Endless Andromaque

“Everything is reflected in Racine’s theatre. It’s an infinite abyss!”

Epirus. It is in the rubble of the Trojan War that the story of Andromaque finds its roots. Three young actors and a director take turns playing all the characters of the tragedy. The story is simple: “Orestes loves Hermione, who loves Pyrrhus, who loves Andromaque, who loves her son Astyanax and her dead husband Hector.” A one-way chain of love, with no possible resolution. Between agony and hope, terror and pity, Racine orchestrates the transports of love and political machinations with exuberance and a perverse pleasure. Gwenaël Morin, known for his unusual re-readings of the classics, adapts this text, deconstructing it and playing with the Alexandrines to experience their music and punctuation. With a pared-down scenography, he goes onstage with the actors of Ier Acte, embarking on an exploration of Racine endlessly renewed, reinvented, and rediscovered!

Jean Racine’s Andromaque is a play in Alexandrines which was performed for the first time in 1667 in the Louvre, in front of the queen. Inspired by Homer’s Iliad, and in spite of the controversy it originally caused, it remains one of Racine’s most performed plays.

With Sonia Hardoub, Mehdi Limam, Emika Maruta and Barbara Jung

Text Jean Racine
Direction Gwenaël Morin
Artistic collaboration Barbara Jung
Technical collaboration Jules Guittier

Production Compagnie Gwenaël Morin / SAS Théâtre Permanent, Festival d’Avignon, Théâtre National de Strasbourg
With the support of la Fondation SNCF and for the Semaine d'Art en Avignon : Spedidam
With the help of Odéon – Théâtre de l’Europe
Creative residency Complexe socio-culturel de La Barbière, Ramdam, un centre d'art (Sainte Foy-lès-Lyon)

The Ier Acte aims to help young actors of various social, cultural, or ethnic backgrounds, and to fight discrimination in the world of French theatre.

The Ier Acte project was created in 2014 by the Théâtre national de Strasbourg, with the help of the Fondation Edmond de Rothschild and Fondation SNCF, and in partnership with the CCN2 de Grenoble, the Festival d’Avignon, and the Odéon-Théâtre de l’Europe. In 2020, the TNS works on the creation of professional road shows.