Alexander Zeldin
The Confessions
© The Confessions, Alexander Zeldin © Christophe Raynaud de Lage ©
© The Confessions, Alexander Zeldin © Christophe Raynaud de Lage ©
© The Confessions, Alexander Zeldin © Christophe Raynaud de Lage ©
Text and direction, Alexander Zeldin
Performers, Joe Bannister, Amelda Brown, Jerry Killick, Lilit Lesser, Brian Lipson, Eryn Jean Norvill, Pamela Rabe, Gabrielle Scawthorn, Yasser Zadeh
Set and Costume Design, Marg Horwell
Movement and choreography, Imogen Knight
Lighting, Paule Constable
Musical composition, Yannis Philippakis
Sound, Josh Anio Grigg
Casting director, Jacob Sparrow
Assistant Director, Joanna Pidcock
Assistant Dramaturg, Sasha Milavic Davies
Voice work, Cathleen McCarron
Produced by Compagnie A Zeldin
Commissioned by The National Theatre of Great Britain; RISING : Melbourne; Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg
Coproduced by Wiener Festwochen; Comédie de Genève; Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe; CCB - Centro Cultural de Belém; Théâtre de Liège; Festival d'Avignon; Festival d'Automne à Paris; Athens Epidaurus Festival; Piccolo Teatro di Milano - Teatro d'Europa; Adelaide Festival; Centre Dramatique National de Normandie-Rouen
The Compagnie A Zeldin is supported by the Drac Île-de-France
Alexander Zeldin is an associate artist of the National Theatre of Great Britain; Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe; Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg; Centre Dramatique National de Normandie-Rouen
Production patrons Nancy and Michael Timmers, David Schwimmer, Cas Donald, Elisabeth de Kergorlay, Mazdak Rassi and Zanna Roberts Rassi, Andrew and Raquel Segal, Victoria Reese and Greg Kennedy, Studio Indigo Architects & Interior Designers
The Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe and the Festival d'Automne à Paris are co-producers and co-presenters of this performance.
In The Confessions, the dramaturge and director Alexander Zeldin composes an epic fresco taking us from Australia to the United Kingdom, and which retells the story of a woman from birth to death.
A human saga straddling two continents, Alexander Zeldin’s project builds up a woman’s portrait at the crossroads between history, in both the wide and narrow sense, along with all its aspirations, and passions. Born in 1943, in Australia, Alice soon finds herself confronted with the narrow-mindedness of a society dominated by the conservatism of the 1950’s, before emancipating herself from it against the backdrop of feminism and sexual liberation, and the search for peace which lead to her departing her native country. Via this central figure, the show retraces the numerous movements which shaped an era in perpetual transformation. This account of a woman who, at the end of her life, casts her mind back on the happy or tragic moments which left their mark on her existence, this "portrait of a heart getting ready to stop beating", forms a vast fresco made all the more touching by the fact that it is loosely based on the director’s own family history.