L’Étang (The Pond)Σοφία Τερεζάκη2023-05-31T16:36:25+03:00
Gisèle Vienne
L’Étang (The Pond) by Robert Walser
Drawing on dance, music and theatre, director and choreographer Gisèle Vienne has been building her own, atmospheric world, noted for its strong visual elements, for the past 20 years. She was first introduced to the Greek audience in 2018 with the performance Crowd, a piece about the dark relationship between the personal and the collective sentiment. This year, she will present the riveting L’Étang at the Festival, a piece that had its premiere in 2021 at the Théâtre de Vidy-Lausanne in Switzerland and is based on Robert Walser’s short play Der Teich (German for The Pond), tackling a dysfunctional family environment.
A boy, feeling rejected by his family, desperately fakes his own death, supposedly drowning in a lake. Vienne creates a powerful psychological drama, shedding light to Walser’s disturbing insinuations about child abuse, incest and family trauma. Vienne’s two performers, sharing 10 roles on stage, the hypnotic lighting and the minimal electronic music by Stephen O’Malley bring to the surface repressed urges and pent-up emotions. The self is scattered amidst all the pain. Every sentence is shrouded in doubt. Were all these things truly narrated or was it just a dream? While Walser’s text offers a sliver of hope for reconciliation, there is no happy ending in Vienne’s world. The trauma is too deep.
Having studied music, philosophy and puppetry, Gisèle Vienne, born in France in 1976, founded her own dance company in 1999. Since then, she has created a total of 11 performances and 7 productions in collaboration with Etienne Bideau-Rey, presented all around Europe, Asia and America.
Communication partner - Institut Français de Grèce
Concept – Directing – Set design – Dramaturgy Gisèle Vienne
Performers Adèle Haenel, Julie Shanahan
Text adaptation Adèle Haenel, Julie Shanahan, Henrietta Wallberg in collaboration with Gisèle Vienne
Lighting design Yves Godin
Sound Adrien Michel
Musical direction Stephen F. O’Malley
Original music Stephen F. O’Malley, François J. Bonnet
Tour assistant Sophie Demeyer
Outside eye Dennis Cooper, Anja Rottgerkamp
Set design collaboration Maroussia Vaes
Puppet concept Gisèle Vienne
Puppet construction Raphaël Rubbens, Dorothéa Vienne-Pollak, Gisèle Vienne in collaboration with Théâtre National de Bretagne
Set production Nanterre-Amandiers CDN
Set design and props Gisèle Vienne, Camille Queval, Guillaume Dumont
Costume design Gisèle Vienne, Camille Queval
Wigs – Make-up Mélanie Gerbeaux
Sound engineers Mareike Trillhaas, Adrien Michel
Lighting manager Iannis Japiot, Samuel Dosière
Stage managers Antoine Hordé, Jack McWeeny
Performance created in collaboration with Kerstin Daley-Baradel and Ruth Vega Fernandez
Special thanks to Etienne Bideau-Rey, Nelson Canart, Zac Farley, Etienne Hunsinger, Pauline Jakobiak, Tristan Lahoz, Richard Pierre, César Van Looy, Jean-Paul Vienne
Technical manager Erik Houllier
Production – Distribution Alma Office: Anne-Lise Gobin, Alix Sarrade, Camille Queval & Andrea Kerr
Management Cloé Haas & Giovanna Rua
Production DACM / Company Gisèle Vienne
Co-production Nanterre-Amandiers Centre dramatique national (Nanterre), Théâtre National de Bretagne (Rennais), Maillon Théâtre de Strasbourg – Scène européenne (Strasbourg), Holland Festival (Amsterdam), Fonds Transfabrik – Fonds franco-allemand pour le spectacle vivant, Centre Culturel André Malraux (Vandœuvre-lès-Nancy), Comédie de Genève (Geneva), La Filature – Scène nationale (Mulhouse), Le Manège – Scène nationale (Reims), Maison de la Culture (Grenoble), Ruhrtriennale, Tandem Scène nationale (Arras), Kaserne (Basel), Internationales Sommerfestival Kampnagel (Hamburg), Festival d'Automne à Paris (Paris), Théâtre Garonne (Toulouse), CCN2 – Centre Chorégraphique national de Grenoble (Grenoble), BIT Teatergarasjen (Bergen), Black Box Teater (Oslo)
With the support of CND Centre national de la danse, La Colline – théâtre national and Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne
Thanks to Point Ephémère for putting their rehearsal space at our disposal and to Playroom, SMEM, Fribourg for their sound studio
The Company Gisèle Vienne is supported by Ministère de la culture et de la Communication – DRAC Grand Est, the Région Grand Est and Ville de Strasbourg.
The company is supported by the Institut français for international touring and by Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels.
Gisèle Vienne is an associated artist at Chaillot – théâtre national de la danse, the MC2 Grenoble, the Volcan -Scène nationale du Havre and the Théâtre National de Bretagne.
