Taking on Lorenzaccio is a huge privilege, a challenge before which one ponders for a long time without making the move. When one takes the plunge, it is an adventure on all levels. In 1833, Alfred de Musset dreamed of a play breaking the limits of all standards and codes of his time, including those of the romantics that was in full force. He plunged into a history of History, that of the assassination in 1536 of the tyrannical Alexander of Medicis by his cousin Lorenzo. He followed the swarming details of historical chronicles to the letter. Nonetheless, he produced a most personal and truly heart-rending work of the Romantic period. The political Leviathan that Lorenzaccio presents is a lush and dark world. There is no happy ending here, that in spite of the death of the hero, would reconcile us. In the depths of his solitude, Musset, is sending us all - still today - a series of warnings, and shows us mirrors. It is for us to look at ourselves, if we choose, living as we do, like him, in an era where the past is in ruins and the future is uncertain. The Florence of Musset's imagination resembles in many ways France in 1830, as it was in his time: a time of ecclesiastic invasion, spreading corruption, humiliation after Napoleonic glory, a feeling of suffocation among the young. But that is also how it is projected into the future and catches up with us. In Lorenzo, angel and rogue, is concentrated the focal tension that runs throughout the play and the other characters: on one hand omnipresent corruption, on the other stifled "angelism" that motivates all those who "want to do something". Musset's final answer is not optimistic, but do we need optimism, or openness ? And do we need a tidy type of theatre, or this kind of monster that runs in several directions at once, that doesn't care about unity of time, action, place, that continues head down in the security offered by classic writing. Musset was not interested in the result: his theatre was unacceptable in his time. He was writing for the future. Thus, his imprudence/impudence is likely to continue vibrating for many years to come.
Jean-Pierre Vincent
Distribution
direction Jean-Pierre Vincent
cast : Olivier Angèle, Valérie Blanchon, Fabien-Aïssa Busetta, Xavier Clion, François Clavier, Philippe Crubézy, Bernard Ferreira, Eric Frey, Alexandra Giuliano, Pierre Gondard, David Gouhier, Jérôme Kircher, Estelle Lesage Luc Marbot, Madeleine Marion, Louis Merino Vincent Mourlon, Guy Parigot, Richard Sammut Sarah Taradach, Xavier Tchili, Laetitia Vitteau
stage adaptation : Bernard Chartreux and Jean-Pierre Vincent
script : Bernard Chartreux
decor : Jean-Paul Chambas
costumes : Patrice Cauchetier
lighting : Alain Poisson
sound : Philippe Cachia
make-up : Suzanne Pisteur
assistant to the director :
Sophie Lecarpentier
decor assistant : Carole Metzner
Production
production : Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers, Centre dramatique national de Savoie
avec le soutien de : la ville de Nanterre, du conseil général des Hauts-de-Seine et du conseil régional d'Ile-de-France
en coproduction avec : le Festival de Marseille, le Festival d'Avignon, Bonlieu-scène nationale d'Annecy, l'Espace Malraux-scène nationale de Chambéry et de Savoie, le Quartz-centre dramatique national et chorégraphique de Brest, la Filature-scène nationale de Mulhouse, le ThéâtreduNord, le Théâtre des Treize vents-centre dramatique national de Montpellier-Languedoc-Roussillon, le Théâtre national de Bretagne-Rennes, le Théâtre Maxime Gorki-scène nationale de Petit-Quevilly