About the imagined odysseys, about the odyssey that could be real, about Homer’s odyssey and other inspirations.
The OUR ODYSSEY project is a diptych; ITHACA and NEW ITHACA.
The first part; ITHACA continues the research of director Christiane Jatahy’s language, between the theater and the cinema, between the fictional and the documentary, between the past and the present. From Homer’s historical fiction, he draws a magnifying glass on the present day, on wars, the movements of departure and arrival, the attempt to arrive at the concrete and metaphorical home.
Interviews with refugees were carried out for dramaturgical construction, besides a period of work with the actors to generate scenes by means of improvisations. Then for a month, Christiane Jatahy wrote the final dramaturgy of the text.
The space of action is bi-frontal. One side is ITHACA. The other side is the PATH TO ITHACA.
ITHACA has 3 PENELOPES and 3 PRETENDENTS. On the other side are 3 ULYSSES and 3 CALIPSOS. The actors represent multiple possibilities of Penelope and Ulysses. From the feminine and the masculine in this adaptation of Homer’s Odyssey.
The three ACTRESSES, Isabel Teixeira, Julia Bernat and Stella Rabello, who “What if they went to Moscow?” Now assume the place of the woman who waits and who also acts. They are joined by 3 ACTORS, Cédric Eeckout, Karim Bel Kacem, and Matthieu Sampeur.
The AUDIENCE, as in previous works will be part of the fictional construction of the story and will be in direct relation to the scene. This will happen through proximity to the actors and the presence of the CINEMA.
The scripts on each side intertwine in sound, images and depth. They are two points of view, but they are also one, as an infinite background lens viewed from both sides in zoom in and zoom out. Two spaces / time that bend over themselves.
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“ITHACA”, by Christiane Jatahy
From Homer and other inspirations
With CÉDRIC EECKOUT, ISABEL TEIXEIRA, JULIA BERNAT, KARIM BEL KACEM, MATTHIEU SAMPEUR and STELLA RABELLO
Direction, Dramaturgy and Scenario CHRISTIANE JATAHY
Artistic collaborator, Lighting and Scenario THOMAS WALGRAVE
Co-creation of scenery MARCELO LIPIANI
Sound Designer ALEX FOSTIER
Director of Photography PAULO CAMACHO
Costumes SIEGRID PETIT-IMBERT, GÉRALDINE INGREMEAU
Video System JULIO PARENTE
Assistant Director and Translator MARCUS BORJA
Artistic collaborator HENRIQUE MARIANO
Construction of the scenario: Atelier de construction de l’Odéon-Théâtre de l’Europe and the team of l’Odéon-Théâtre de l’Europe.
Premiered on 16 March 2018 at the Ateliers Berthier de l’Odéon-Théâtre de l’Europe,
We especially thank Kais Razouk, Godrat Arai and Nazeeh Alsahuyny for sharing their odysseys with us.
Production: Odéon-Théâtre de l’Europe (Paris, France)
Co-production : Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles (Brussels, Belgium), São Luiz theater (Lisbon, Portugal), Onassis Cultural Center (Athens, Greece), Comédie de Genève (Geneva, Switzerland).
Support: CENTQUATRE (Paris, France)
Cultural support: SESC
Le Monde (Fabianne Darge)
“Le text d’Homère est ici comme un palimpseste, sur lequel Christiane Jatahy et ses six extraordinaires comédiens écrivent leur propre texte – un texte qui, pourtant, ne peut existir que parce que celui de l’auteur grec a existé, el parce qu’il est à la source de notre civilisation et de nos représentations imaginaires. Mais tout prend un tour on ne peut plus vivant et concret dans ce théâtre de Christiane Jatahy qui, depuis qu’on lá découvert, en 2014, avec Julia, d’après Strindberg a fait viellir d’un coup une bonne partie de ce qui se produit en Europe”
Libération
“S’inspirant de «l’Odyssée», Christiane Jatahy entremêle deux dimensions spatio-temporelles, sur le thème de la migration, faisant écho à son pays.”
Les Echos
“Ithaque, première partie d’un diptyque dédié au poème d’Homère, est davantage qu’un spectacle, une expérience rare – avec ses ratés, ses longueurs, mais avec la récompense d’un épilogue qui bouleverse les sens. Dérouté, séduit, puis conquis : il faut tendre l’oreille au chant désespéré de la sirène Jatahy.”
