Falk Richter & Anouk Van Dijk / Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus
Taking a tight hold of the contradictory aspirations of our Western societies is at the heart of the work of Falk Richter, a multi-facetted man of the theatre, now working with the Schauspielthaus of Düsseldorf. Without neglecting the repertoire, he favours the plays of contemporary authors who cast a scathing look at our period, for example, Sarah Kane, Martin Crimp, Jon Fossé or Lars Nóren. A critical vein that he also explores himself, as Falk Richter is one of the rare German directors today to stage his own dramatic texts. The Festival d'Avignon's public discovered, in 2008, his way of directly questioning the liberal values that have governed the post-9/11 world with The System, a four-play cycle staged by Stanislas Nordey, who was co-writer with him of the show My Secret Garden, presented in 2010.
Open to collective experiences, Falk Richter regularly works with Anouk van Dijk on projects combining the power of words and that of bodies. This Dutch choreographer's aesthetics were built on her own personal technique, the “counter-technique”. Founded on the dancer's freedom, on his speed and virtuosity, it requires the interpreter to execute, for each movement that he makes on stage, an opposite one. A rule that generates an “irregular”, intriguing and generous choreography that gives all its singularity to the work of this artist with an international career, who has just recently become the director of the company Chunky Move in Melbourne. Rausch is the fourth project she has co-signed with Falk Richter, after Trust, presented at the Festival d'Avignon in 2010.
MS, April 2013.