Ludovic Lagarde was born in 1962. He first directed plays at the Comédie de Reims, then at the Théâtre Granit de Belfort. He went on to form his own company and with them staged Bertolt Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle. He also worked with the Théâtre National de Strasbourg troupe led by Stéphane Braunschweig for Edward Bond's Olly's Prison (Maison d'Arrêt). Ludovic Lagarde has continued working on the teaching side, and regularly works with musical director Christophe Rousset to stage operas such as Cadmus et Hermione by Jean-Baptiste Lully, in 2001, Actéon by Marc-Antoine Charpentier in 2004 and Vénus et Adonis by Henry Desmarets in 2006.
His work with the writer Olivier Cadiot began in 1993 with a commissioned play, Sœurs et Frères (Brothers and Sisters), after which they adapted Le Colonel des Zouaves (The Colonel of the Zouaves), Retour Définitif et Durable de L'être Aimé (Last and Lasting Return of the Beloved) and Fairy Queen. Ludovic Lagarde is faithful to text-based theatre, where voice and sound set the rhythm for the actors. It is a style of theatre which is constantly on the move, constantly renewed.
At the Avignon Festival, Ludovic Lagarde presented Fairy Queen in 2004 and Olivier Cadot's Le Colonel des Zouaves and also Oui Dit le Très Jeune Homme (Yes is For a Very Young Man) by Gertrude Stein. In 2005, he staged works by Belgian writers including Peter Verhelst's version of Richard III.
Flemish author Peter Verhelst writes poetry, novels, short stories, tales as well as works for the stage or film scenarios. He also takes part in the performances of his works.
His first work of poetry, Obsidaan (Obsidienne), is reminiscent of Baudelaire's, with love, sexuality and death at the centre of his writing.
In the 1990s, he began to produce dramatic works, adapted from classical tragedies such as The Oresteia, Romeo and Juliette and Edward II. Using a very physical language which is sensitive, sensual and overflowing with poetry and imagination, this 45 year-old writer does not believe in making distinctions between poetry and prose, between dance and drama, instead he places the emphasis on the role of the actor in conveying the spoken word. Since 2005, he has been involved in a serialized work called Utopiefabriek (Utopia Factory).
This Richard III has been totally re-written and only retains the dramatic thread of the play of the same name by William Shakespeare. While the ambivalent character of Richard, a simultaneously seductive and repulsive hero, is present in Peter Verhelst's version, it is the women who have the most say, and the historical happenings occurring off-stage are told by a voice off stage, a messenger or a chorus as in antiquity. The consecutive “close-ups” on Richard and the women surrounding him give a better insight into why the hero is permanently chasing after the evil that seems to be his motivation.
This Richard, strangely enough, only talks of love, of The Absolute or of utopian politics to the point of delirium which makes him sound quite similar to our own contemporary dictators. He exposes a private side, manipulates and kneads private aspect which politicians seem to put to wide use nowadays. The monstrosity of the king takes root first of all in his brain before expressing itself in strong and implacable words that the author brings out within a mixture of verse and prose which gives his meaning a real dynamic. To attain his goal, his dream, his destiny, this Richard devours and destroys everything in his path, convinced that there is no other way.
He clearly illustrates the idea that a desire of absolute purity can lead to the worst of atrocities, as is shown and underlined by the real tragedies of our most recent history, and which Peter Verhelst's stage-writing makes obvious to us in a most terribly efficient way.
It is the first time the work of this Flemish author is being staged in France.
Distribution
traduit du néerlandais par :Christian Marcipont
mise en scène :Ludovic Lagarde
avec :Suzanne Aubert, Pierre Baux, Anne Bellec, Francesca Bracchino, Geoffrey Carey, Antoine Herniotte, Camille Panonacle, Laurent Poitrenaux, Samuel Réhault, Christele Tual
assistante dramaturge :Marion Stoufflet
scénographie :Antoine Vasseur
costumes :Valérie Simonneau
lumière :Sébastien Michaud
son et musique: David Bichindaritz
collaboration artistique son et musique: Olivier Pasquet
administration :Jean-Michel Hossenlopp
Production
coproduction :Compagnie Ludovic Lagarde, Maison de la culture de Bourges -Scène nationale, Centre dramatique régional de Tours, Festival d'Avignon, Le Trident-Scène nationale de Cherbourg - Octeville, Festival delle Colline (Turin), Théâtre de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines - Scène nationale
avec le soutien de :la Région Île-de-France, des autorités flamandes et de CulturesFrance
avec la participation artistique du :Jeune théâtre national
avec l'aide du :Fonds d'insertion pour jeunes artistes dramatiques, DRAC et Région Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur
Le Festival d'Avignon reçoit le soutien de :l'Adami pour la production
Le spectacle sera enregistré au Cloître des Carmes
et diffusé le 27 juillet sur France 2