L'Expérience préhistorique

The Prehistoric Experiment
At the heart of the experiment proposed by Christelle Lheureux, a film: The Sisters of Gion, shot in 1936 by Kenji Mizoguchi. The artist was inspired by this story about geishas and made a silent film of the same length, following the same storyboard and with the same characters. The only difference is that these dozen men and women, projected into today's Japan, appear frozen in space: the dialogues have been replaced by looks, the actions by poses. Inanimate figures, they seem to be waiting for a voice and a narrative. This version, faithful but wordless, serves as a matrix open to many stories and interpretations. Christelle Lheureux asked several writers to invent new dialogues and interpret them live during narrative performances, like the “barkers” who accompanied the “prehistoric” beginnings of the cinematography. Each writer thus stamps his own story, his own language, his own subjectivity on the images of this film, which turns to be a tremendous support for the narrative and the imagination. Christelle Lheureux commissioned a new version of this multi-track remake from Marie Darrieussecq; Christophe Fiat and Wajdi Mouawad will also present theirs. To be discovered on stage on the occasion of The 25th Hour and in the framework of a video installation running throughout the Festival.

conception, images and editing: Christelle Lheureux
text and performance: Marie Darrieussecq (12 July), Christophe Fiat (13 July) et Wajdi Mouawad (27 July)

Projet initié à l'occasion d'une résidence en 2003 à la Villa Kujoyama avec le soutien de CulturesFrance