Has the theatre lost its relevance? What is its social responsibility today? Has the motto “no future” become an empty hedonistic phrase, a merely pseudo-philosophical saying? Should we attempt to revive the Dionysian solar cult? And can the theatre promise help in this endeavour? In his new play “The Sun”, written for the Volksbühne Berlin, the artistic director of the Odéon-Théâtre de l´Europe in Paris and designated director of the Avignon festival Olivier Py goes further into these uncertain issues. Py, who works as a theatre and opera director, aims at challenging the notion of the theatre as a sophisticated art form and celebration of craftsmanship, all the more in a country like Germany with a long-established theatre tradition. Making use of the French baroque technique of the “theatre within the theatre” he develops “a melodrama of artists inside the world of the theatre”, as he likes to describe it.
“It is easy to act a part. You just enter the stage and everything will be pretty straightforward. Everything comes to rest. You leave your own despair behind. The audience can feel it in their bones whether you have truly entered the stage, or not. Whether you have dared to take the plunge into the void. You do not need rehearsals or scripts to do that, it is enough to be ready to take the risk and lose everything. It is not important whether your acting skills are brilliant or poor, whether you are a talented actor or a clumsy performer. All that counts is this nakedness. You must be willing to bare yourself, show yourself as naked and undisguised as can be, if you want to go on stage. Naked beyond all bearing.”
Py’s production of Meyerbeer’s “Les Huguenots” at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels was elected „Production of the Year“ by the German magazine Opernwelt.
“The Sun” was made possible with the kind assistance of the Institut Français under the programme Théâtre sur mesure.
With: Sebastian König (Axel), Lucas Prisor (Josef), Mandy Rudski (Santa), Ingo Raabe (Matthias), Uli Kirsch (Charlie), Ilse Ritter (Elena), Uwe Preuss (Der Intendant), Claudius von Stolzmann (Bobby) and Sir Henry (Piano)
Director: Olivier Py
Stage and Costumes Supplier: Pierre André Weitz
Light Design: Bertrand Kylli
Music: Mathieu el Fassi
Dramaturgy: Maurici Farré
