We, Europe, Banquet of Peoples

What Europe do we want? And what do we want to be within Europe? A Europe where everyone would have their place? A Europe which no longer weighs on us with decisions we can't control? Laurent Gaudé answers those questions with a powerful poem. More an outlook than an answer, actually. Orchestrating live, composer and director Roland Auzet has actors from different nationalities meet with a choir made up of people of all ages to create a “We.” We, Europe. They embody the poem, which becomes faces and words. As we listen, it carries us off in its currents. Tragedy and hope can both be heard in it; the singing turns into a scansion of desires and images, which all together redefines the possibility of a collective history. We, Europe, or the Feast of the Peoples is a polyphonic show, which turns the audience into an assembly of poet-citizens, the actors of an impending change. A mosaic of languages for a diverse Europe where art strengthens the political, in the hope that the latter will finally start taking everyone's existence into account.

Roland Auzet is a composer and director for the theatre and opera. He likes to turn the space of the stage into a place of perceptions where sound and words explore a shared emotion. In addition to bringing his multidisciplinary approach to many cultural institutions throughout the world (Europe, Asia, North America), he also spends a lot of time teaching, as well as directing, programming, and producing musical and dramatic projects.

In plays like Onysos le furieux (1997) [Furious Onysos] and novels like The Scortas' Sun (Prix Goncourt 2004) and Salina (2018), Laurent Gaudé explores a world in which the legacy of myths and the weight of fate often cross paths. The title of his latest poetry collection, De sang et de lumière (2017) [Of Blood and Light], reminds us of what is at the heart of his generous body of work.

Nous, l'Europe by Laurent Gaudé is published by Actes Sud.

With Robert Bouvier, Rodrigo Ferreira, Olwen Fouéré, Vincent Kreyder, Mounir Margoum, Rose Martine, Dagmara Mrowiec-Matuszak, Karoline Rose, Emmanuel Schwartz, Artemis Stavridi, Thibault Vinçon
And the Choeur de l'Opéra Grand Avignon et 40 amateurs singers
and each evening a great witness : Aurélie Filippetti, Susan George, Aziliz Gouez,
Ulrike Guérot, François Hollande, Pascal Lamy, Eneko Landaburu, Enrico Letta,
Geneviève Pons, Luuk van Middelaar

Text Laurent Gaudé
Conception, music, direction Roland Auzet
Scenography Roland Auzet, Bernard Revel, Juliette Seigneur
Lights Bernard Revel
Choreography Joëlle Bouvier
Video Pierre Laniel
Electronic music Daniele Guaschino
Costumes Mireille Dessingy
Artistic collaboration Carmen Jolin
Direction assistant Victor Pavel

Production L'Archipel Scène nationale de Perpignan
Co-production Act-Opus Compagnie Roland Auzet, Compagnie du Passage (Switzerland), Scène nationale de Saint-Nazaire, Théâtre Prospero - Le Groupe de la Veillée (Canada), MC2: Grenoble Scène nationale, Théâtre-Sénart Scène nationale, Festival d'Avignon, Opéra Grand Avignon, Théâtre Cinéma de Choisy-le-Roi Scène conventionnée pour la diversité linguistique, MA Scène nationale de Montbéliard, Teatr Polski Bydgoszcz (Poland), Châteauvallon Scène nationale
With the artistic participation of Jeune théâtre national
With the support of Fondation Orange, Institut français établissement public en charge des relations culturelles internationales, Fondation Hippocrène, Services de la culture du Canton et de la Ville de Neuchâtel, Syndicat intercommunal du Théâtre régional de Neuchâtel,  Loterie Romande and for the 73rd edition of the Festival d'Avignon : Spedidam