The title of your show has two meanings. A “Sommet” (French for “summit”) refers both to the highest point of a mountain and to a meeting of great importance, a crucial rendezvous, at least for those who take part in it...
Malte Ubenauf: And in German, sommet is Gipfel, which also refers to a pastry, like a croissant... We're very interested in these double meanings! In fact, the show changes its title depending on the country where it's presented, and in every language, the title carries multiple meanings.
Christoph Marthaler: Sommet in French indeed means both the top of a mountain and a time and place for people to come together and discuss all kinds of subjects. Individuals gather to address issues they consider of great importance. Some summits carry significant weight, while others seem more “symbolic,” but always with the idea that vital decisions will emerge from them. It also signifies an achievement, a culmination, the result of great effort: being at the top. But once you've reached the summit, what then? You shift into something else: philosophy, poetry… or a fall, or simply the descent. The starting point for this performance was a co-production between Switzerland (Vidy-Lausanne), Italy (Piccolo Teatro), and France (MC93), with performers from different European countries speaking different languages—French, Italian, German, Austrian German, and Scottish English—and without a truly common language. Even on paper, before any rehearsals, this project was already a summit meeting, on either side of the Alps!
Malte Ubenauf: And indeed, at the very moment we are preparing this performance, summits are taking place in France, Italy, Switzerland, and in other countries across Europe and the world, about a wide range of topics. At the same time, the international context is challenging what binds the European Union together. We wanted to explore these kinds of situations, when people isolate themselves for reasons that seem decisive; these encounters, on top of a mountain for example, where individuals exchange ideas without always knowing whether anything concrete will come out of it!
Starting from an idea or a word, what is your process to create a dramatic form?
Christoph Marthaler: It’s a collective creative process. We form an ensemble, to use the term from German theatre. My work with dramaturge Malte Ubenauf and the actors is rooted in a long-standing collaboration. But of course, new people regularly join this process. We usually begin with songs, then explore a body of texts, more or less connected to the themes driving the project, and everyone is free to contribute. These texts are read on stage, tested, questioned. The vocal and musical research follows the same movement. It’s a constantly evolving process, and Le Sommet is no exception. We try out a sequence, then see how it fits within the different parts we’ve been working on, how it holds together. In the end, it becomes a kind of composition. We shape it, even if that means taking it apart again and reworking its rhythm.
Is the idea, for these individuals who reach the so-called summit, to “form a society”?
Malte Ubenauf: It’s a very concrete situation: a small group of people climb to the top of a mountain to reach a house, or maybe a chalet… it’s not exactly clear what it is. They’re dressed like mountaineers, perhaps of a slightly unusual kind, but yes, they do seem prepared for the mountains. The point isn’t to clarify which specific summit has brought these people together, either thematically or geographically: a refuge, a cabin, a chalet, a secret place, a shelter… certainly somewhere in Europe, maybe in the Alps? And perhaps, in the end, we won’t know any more than that. Summits don’t always lead to outcomes, do they? Maybe that’s precisely why they interest us… Despite the language gaps and misunderstandings, these people share something. In German, by the way, if you’re shocked or outraged by how something is unfolding, you might say: “Das ist der Gipfel!”—which is like saying in French, “C’est un comble !” or “C’est le bouquet !” Christoph explores the irony of a situation through concrete elements: the tangible presence of a group gathered without a common language, the reality of a small house at the peak of a mountain… Material details that also serve, of course, as a metaphor.
Is a desire to constantly subvert expectations what drives you to create?
Christoph Marthaler: The people gathered at this summit have made an ascent that hasn’t brought them any closer to the sky or to any notion of the divine. They don’t overlook anything. Despite being way up high, they somehow seem to be right at ground level! Perhaps they’re politicians, or maybe wealthy, powerful individuals choosing to isolate themselves, or a group taking refuge far from a world in turmoil. We’re never really sure if they even understand one another. So it may be less about subverting expectations than about allowing different situations to coexist and complement one another, and about not ignoring ambiguity. It’s an invitation to observe, in a different way, ways of living we might otherwise think we know all too well.
Malte Ubenauf: At a summit, encounters naturally involve moving between private and public spaces, with asides, shifts from one room to another within the same building, a constant back-and-forth between the official and the intimate. These individuals might choose to share their ideas or prefer not to... Here, perhaps they’ve gathered to make a grave decision? Or because this is the last geographic point where they can survive? Or both? The presence of different nationalities inevitably reflects a deeper questioning of today’s Europe…
Your six actors come from different countries and speak different languages. They talk to each other, but don’t always understand each other…
Christopher Marthaler: They are gathered in this small house and find themselves isolated. This kind of isolation is happening more and more often nowadays, wherever you are. These people exchange, and they understand each other, or they don’t. I have always played with languages, with meaning and the absence of meaning. Yet I feel that reality has finally caught up with me: today’s world has multiplied isolations. It is so divided that meaning has fractured. In our “summit,” I recognize something of a humanity that ought to communicate but no longer manages to do so.
Interview conducted by Marc Blanchet