You have to love the stories, the wisdom, the Persian and the simple beauty of the poetry of sufi for going on stage the Conference of The birds. It is necessary to dare, too. Peter Brook did in a memorable show in 1979, after a stage adaptation of Jean-Claude Carrière, at the Cloître des Carmes for the Avignon Festival. The text was more up in France until today, and for a small week again, at the Théâtre des Quartiers d’ivry, by Guy Pierre Couleau.
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This is, again, a real challenge to put in image this long poem sufi assigned to Farid Uddin Attar, which is not far from millennium. He recounts the meeting with about thirty birds, led by a hoopoe to go find their king, the mythical Simurgh. Their epic celestial must cross seven valleys in mysterious ways. The research, of love, of knowledge, of the nothingness, from the unit, stupor, and death. As in any fable, there is a lot of the human race, and its polls in this journey. Guy Pierre Couleau has made a line of force of its staging.
the Effects of mirror
Drawing the boxes of a theatre, ten little secretaries surmounted by a mirror, draw the background of the scene. The actors are sitting down, their faces reflecting the public when they put on their mask of a bird, the wonderful creations of Kuno Schlegelmilch. On a large red diamond made of wood chips, which is constantly reshaped by the enlightenment delicate, they offer a papillonnement continuous, a dance vibrant, collective, well-led by the eloquent Luc-Antoine Diquéro. These birds are also delightful that excited, disorderly, and noisy. Sometimes grotesque. Faithful to men.
«On a large red diamond made of wood chips, the actors offer a papillonnement continuous, a dance vibrant and collective.» Laurent Schneegans
The comedians, skin colors and accents, multiple brew of various origins. For the director, as migratory animals, these creatures with wings also refer to migration flows, human caused by wars, famine and climatic changes. It is a bit pulled by the feathers but it allows to find, in the words of Peter Brook, the passage «of the culture outdoor culture indoor».
When at the end of the journey, interspersed with anecdotes and tales various you capture, not without difficulty, the philosophical range, the birds will have reached «enlightenment», the king Simurgh does their return that their own reflection. The journey is inside. The word goes out when there are more travelers or guides. The feathers appear to be melted down in a large all: our humanity invisible.
the Conference of The birds, at the Théâtre des Quartiers d’ivry, Manufacture of Eyelets, 1 place Pierre Gosnat, Ivry-sur-Seine (94200). Tuesday and Friday at 20h, Thursday at 19h.
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and Then on tour in Epinal (Scènes Vosges – Mouse, Green) on the 26th of march, in Sainte-Maxime (The Square) on April 5, and at The Meeting (Centre dramatique de l’océan Indien) from 9 to 13 April.