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Cast
Alexandra Gilbert
Arthur Nauzyciel
Laurent Poitrenaux
and the voice Marthe Keller
mise en scène et adaptation
Arthur Nauzyciel
d’après le roman de
Yannick Haenel
vidéo
Miroslaw Balka
music
Christian Fennesz
set
Riccardo Hernandez
advice and choreography
Damien Jalet
sound
Xavier Jacquot
costumes
José Lévy
lighting
Scott Zielinski
set assistant
James Brandily
costume assistant
Géraldine Crespo
stage manager
Jean-Marc Hennaut
documentary research
Leila Adham
production
Centre Dramatique National Orléans/Loiret/Centre
coproduction
Festival d’Avignon; Les Gémeaux Scène nationale de Sceaux; CDDB-Théâtre de Lorient, CDN; Maison de la Culture de Bourges, Scène nationale; La Comédie de Reims CDN, Festival Reims Scènes d’Europe
With the support of the Région Centre, the Polish Institute of Paris and the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès as part of the New settings programme.
With the participation of the French Institute.
With the help of the Theatre TR Warszawa and the French Embassy in Poland
The set has been constructed in the workshops of the Maison de la Culture de Bourges, Scène nationale.
JAN KARSKI (Interallié Prize and prize of the novel Fnac 2009) is pusblished at Éditions Gallimard.
creation/coproduction
Show rehearsed at the CDN Orléans/Loiret/Centre
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LA PIÈCE
Warsaw, 1942. Poland is wrecked by the Nazis and the Soviets. Jan Karski is a messenger of the Polish resistance for the government in exile in London. He meets two men who led him secretly into Warsaw’s ghetto so he can tell the Allies what he has seen and that the European Jews are being exterminated.
Jan Karski travels through Europe in war, alerts the English and meets President Roosevelt in the United States. But his appeal has no consequences. After nearly forty years of silence, he accepts to testify once again in the film SHOAH by Claude Lanzmann.
The extraordinary destiny of this man, confronted with the passivity of the Allies facing the genocide organized by the Nazis, questions Yannick Haenel who wrote, in 2009, a novel structured in three parts: the first is the transcription of the speech on film, the second is the autobiography of Karski and the third reveals finally the imagination of the novelist who lets the hero speak in present tense.
Troubled by the book, Arthur Nauzyciel decided to adapt it for the stage, convinced that “if there are no limits to literature”, there can't be any in theatre. Faithful to its origins, the theatre can make heard the voice of those who have none anymore and hand on to a large public this tragedy of imposed silence. Just as the witnesses of the Holocaust are disappearing, the time to take over has come.
For this creation, Arthur Nauzyciel has gathered artists coming from France, Belgium, Poland, Switzerland, Austria, the United States. They are Karski's travel. The director meets up with artistic partners who, from ORDET to JULIUS CAESAR, have participated in his former productions : the choreographer Damien Jalet, the american set designer Riccardo Hernandez, the sound designer Xavier Jacquot, the fashion designer José Lévy and the american lighting designer Scott Zielinski. He also works for their first participation in a theatre production with one of today's most important artists, the Pole Miroslaw Balka, and the musician Christian Fennesz, a major figure of the international electro music scene. On stage, he meets up with the dancer Alexandra Gilbert and Laurent Poitrenaux, the principal actor of his first show THE IMAGINARY INVALID OR THE SILENCE OF MOLIÈRE in 1999 and who played at the CDN in 2010 in SKETCH OF A PORTRAIT and in 2011 in A MAGUS IN SUMMER. The actress Marthe Keller, known notably for her roles beside AL PACINO (BOBBY DEERFIELD), DUSTIN HOFFMAN (MARATHON MAN) or MARLON BRANDO (THE FORMULA), is also participating.
After rehearsals in Orléans, New York and Warsaw, JAN KARSKI (MY NAME IS A FICTION) is created for the opening of the Avignon Festival 2011.
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EXPOSITION MIROSLAW BALKA
FRAC Centre
27 SEP—10 NOV 2011
VERNISSAGE LUN 26 SEP 18H30
In conjunction with the performances of JAN KARSKI (MY NAME IS A FICTION) in Orléans, the FRAC Centre wanted to organise one of the first solo exhibitions of Miroslaw Balka’s work in France. He will create a new piece specially for this occasion.
Events around the show
Carte blanche
au Cinéma des Carmes
MAR 20 SEP 2011
Opening night of the Cycle of Cartes Blanches
Onstage talk
JEU 06 OCT 2011
after the performance
Lectures and Round Tables
In partnership with the FRAC Centre, the Cercil, the University of Orléans, the Cinéma Les Carmes, the Museum of Fine Arts, the bookstore Les Temps Modernes and the association Guillaume Budé.
Download the press kit
On tour
Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand,
Scène nationale
October 13-October 14 2011
Comédie de Reims, CDN
December 13-December 14 2011
Les Gémeaux, Scène nationale de Sceaux
February 8-February 19 2012
Maison de la Culture de Bourges,
Scène nationale
January 17-January 18 2012
CDDB-Théâtre de Lorient, CDN
February 1-February 3 2012
The show will be reshown at the New settings event organized by the Fondation d’entreprise Hermès at the Théâtre de la Cité internationale (dates to be confirmed).
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