Iphigenia

The Trojan War has begun, and the fleet of Greek King Agamemnon has been stuck in the port of Aulis for three months. The oracle is called on, and the oracle says that for the Gods to show clemency, Agamemnon's daughter, Iphigenia, must be sacrificed on Diana's altar. The Greek King does as he is told and continues with his war... Questioning actions accomplished out of duty, the legitimacy of sacrifice, and the tension between love and ambition, Chloé Dabert uses Racine's exact text, dives into the words of the 17th century, and explores the moral meaning of this ceremony. On a campsite halfway between the beach and the sea, the surrounded protagonists of the play make theirs this tragic poetry, tell us that actions are made first and foremost of words, that the desires of the Gods are the origins of all forms of submission, that women are the victims of all disputes... ceaselessly coming back to us and to those choices that are beyond us in this quest for a return to calm and the cooling off of tensions.

Chloé Dabert
After graduating from the Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique, Chloé Dabert performed for Joël Jouanneau, Jeanne Champagne, and Madeleine Louarn, before turning to direction. In 2012, she created the company Héros-limite with Sébastien Eveno, and directed Denis Kelly's Orphans, which won top honours at the Festival Impatience in 2014. Focusing on contemporary writing—such as Jean-Luc Lagarce's I was in the house, waiting for the rain, which she directed this past winter at the Comédie-Française—she questions the language of theatre methodically and almost mathematically, in order to better highlight the poetic structure of the works she adapts. She also regularly hosts drama workshops for teenagers, in particular at the Théâtre de Lorient, where she was artist-in-residence.

Iphigénie de Racine, edition of Georges Forestier, published by Gallimard

With Yann Boudaud, Bénédicte Cerutti, Victoire Du Bois,
Servane Ducorps, Olivier Dupuy, Sébastien Eveno,
Julien Honoré, Arthur Verret

Text Jean Racine
Direction Chloé Dabert
Stage design and video Pierre Nouvel
Lights Kelig Le Bars
Sound Lucas Lelièvre
Costumes Marie La Rocca

Production Cie Héros-limite
Coproduction Le Quai Centre dramatique national d'Angers-Pays de la Loire, Théâtre national de Bretagne, Festival d'Avignon, Espace 1789 Scène conventionnée pour la danse de Saint-Ouen, La Passerelle Scène nationale de Saint-Brieuc, L'Archipel Pôle d'action culturelle de Fouesnant-Les Glénan, Célestins Théâtre de Lyon, Théâtre de la Cité CDN Toulouse Occitanie
With the support of  Ministère de la Culture Drac Bretagne, Région Bretagne, Conseil départemental de Seine Saint-Denis, Spedidam et pour la 72e édition du Festival d'Avignon : Adami
With the help of the Centquatre-Paris
With the participation of the Jeune Théâtre National