"Purgatorius ceratops, plesiadapis triscupidens, oelopithecus chirobates... " The Wife of Separacides is trying to work out the order of humankind's ancestry; then she gives birth. Jean Terrier declares his love in algebra. The Bonhomme Nihil trys to remember a dictation excercise that began with, "The altar was in Jerusalem, but the blood of the victim bathed the universe..." In the middle of the night, the Homme en Matière Vide paints anthropoglyphes on the theatre floor, strewing figures, organs carelessly - a human sketch. His characters enter, live and kill. There are eight clowns who take on human shape, but sometimes behave like animals. They sniff around on the floor, are driven by a single passion: to discover why their state is that of a clown, and they want to see simultaneously their "animal" and their '"thought process" - and the language that comes out of their mouths in a material form and flies into the air like a ribbon."
Valère Novarina
This play is the reverse side of the Opérette Imaginaire (Avignon 1999) and of La Chair de l'Homme (Avignon 1995). An archipelago of acts, spoken and sung, against a background of paintings – Valère Novarina combines more and more simple elements in his stage direction to create a tireless explanation of the world in rebounding word and in the transciencee of a crowd of characters. These elements pose an unusual question, with a comic ending and the tragedy of language.
Distribution
cast : Michel Baudinat, Didier Dugast, André Marcon, Laurence Mayor, Dominique Pinon, Agnès Sourdillon, Leopold von Verschuer, Daniel Zynk
set painting and directed by : Valère Novarina
stage set : Philippe Marioge
lighting : Joël Hourbeigt
costumes : Sabine Siegwalt
songs composed and accompanied by : Christian Paccoud
Production
production : déléguée L'Union des contraires
coproduction : L'Union des contraires, Théâtre national de la Colline, Festival d'Avignon, CDN / Orléans - Loiret - Centre
avec l'aide : du ministère de la culture (DMDTS), DRAC Ile de France, Adami, Théâtre d'Evreux-scène nationale-Evreux-Louviers
L'Origine rouge est publiée aux éditions : P.O.L, septembre 2000