Jonathan Châtel
Trained as an actor, with a degree in philosophy and in theatre studies, Jonathan Châtel works as an actor, a playwright, and a director, before leaving for Oslo for three years. Upon coming back, he founds with playwright Sandrine Le Pors the company ELK, before translating, adapting, and directing Henrik Ibsen's Little Eyolf in 2012. Jonathan Châtel also works as a bande dessinée writer (Kirkenes, Les Enfants rouges), co-directs documentaries (Les Réfugiés de la nuit polaire (The Refugees of Polar Night)), and teaches theatre studies at the university level (UCL, Belgium), multiplying his experiences to feed his dramatic creation.The French-Norwegian director may have inherited from the north a more acute sensibility to the changes of the light, to the power of natural elements, and to their influence on voices and on the movements of bodies. His original passion for drawing may also be what drives him to seek the intensity of the theatre in a stripped-down, clear style.
