The French is Warlikowski’s journey in search for the European identity. The starting point is Marcel Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, a monumental 7-volume novel that describes a society that faces the outbreak of the World War I and witnesses the birth of contemporary anti-Semitism. According to Gilles Deleuze’s maxim that “only those buried too deep and too quickly come back”, Warlikowski calls Proust to a debate on the shape of contemporary Europe. What will it be like?
"The intention is not to produce an on-stage equivalent of the novel, but to find a parallel world, a structure through which our period can be passed as if through the needle's eye of Proust's critical gaze, keeping his clarity of vision and brilliant wit. Immersed in non-linear time, we can examine Proust's radical image in the ideal setting of the theatre".
– says Warlikowski on the performance.
This is not Warlikowski’s first take on the epic novel by Proust. In 2002 he directed a play in Schauspiel, Bonn. Piotr Gruszczyński from ‘Tygodnik Powszechny’ commented it then as follows:
"Proust in a theatre by Warlikowski is different, sharper, more radical, seeing the dawn of the European civilization, exposing its sexual hypocrisy and conservatism".
What will it be like this time? The world premiere of The French is scheduled for 21 August at the famed Ruhrtriennale festival organized by Johan Simons. The Polish premiere is planned on 1 October 2015 and will be the major event of the opening of the Nowy Teatr International Culture Centre in Warsaw, construction on which is underway.
The cast of The French includes Agata Buzek, Magdalena Cielecka, Ewa Dałkowska, Małgorzata Hajewska-Krzysztofik, Maria Łozińska, Maja Ostaszewska, Claude Bardouil, Mariusz Bonaszewski,Bartosz Gelner, Wojciech Kalarus, Marek Kalita, Zygmunt Malanowicz, Piotr Polak, Jacek Poniedziałek, and Maciej Stuhr.
Scenography was designed by Małgorzata Szczęśniak, animation by Kamil Polak, and lights by Felice Ross.
The performance is made in co-production by Ruhrtriennale, Théâtre National de Chaillot (Paris), Comédie de Genève, Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand, la Filature (Mulhouse), le Parvis – Scène Nationale Tarbes Pyrénées.
The performances at the Ruhrtriennale are supported by Culture.pl
Sources: Nowy Teatr, Tygodnik Powszechny, edit. AL
Translated by Paweł Trzaskowski, July 2015.