Bluebeard's Wives

  • Theatre
  • Show
  • Cancelled edition
The 2020 archive

Lisa Guez

Paris

Bluebeard’s Wives explores female desire and its self-conditioning, halfway between a dreamlike folktale and a horrible news story.
Bluebeard's Wives, Lisa Guez, 2020 © Simon Gosselin

Presentation

Lisa Guez flips the tale of Bluebeard on its head to give his wives a chance to speak. Each of them in turn, confused by her husband's contradictory instructions, has no choice but to open the forbidden door and to live her freedom to the fullest until it costs her her life. Today, present as a group on stage, they make their way into the title of the play, reclaim their identity by using their actual names, and analyse the biases inherent to Charles Perrault's writing and their potential modern interpretations. Their goal: to help each other, and to question the male hold on their desire. As in group therapy, each of the members of this sisterhood in death shares her experience and relives the seminal moments of the tale. The symbols, mysteries, and the initiatory journey to the locked room remain always visible and provide us with a number of questions on which Lisa Guez chooses to shine a light to better expose female self-conditioning. Whether they're talking about Bluebeard, Mister Blue, or B. B., Nelly, Jordane, Valentine and the others speak for themselves and for all of them, as in a universal folktale—or a news story.

Distribution

With Valentine Bellone, Anne Knosp, Valentine Krasnochok, Nelly Latour, Jordane Soudre

Text, adaptation Lisa Guez, Valentine Krasnochok
Direction Lisa Guez
Dramaturgy Valentine Krasnochok
Music Louis-Marie Hippolyte, Antoine Wilson
Lights Sarah Doukhan, Lila Meynard

Production

Production Juste avant la Compagnie
With the help of Lavoir Moderne Parisien, Centquatre-Paris, ACB Scène nationale (Bar-le-Duc), La Verrière (Lille)

Practical infos

Pictures

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