Le grand théâtre d'Oklahama

Choreographer for Madeleine Louarn’s and Jean François Aguste’s theater piece Le Grand Theatre d’Oklahama

The piece was premiered in Avignon (Fr), in 2018.

With Madeleine Louarn, Jean-François Auguste, and the handicapped actorsof the Catalyse troupe, living for beauty and poetry requires work, it is a struggle.

Making theirs Kafka’s last and often little-known writings, they offer an exploration of that effervescent mind. The path Kafka always trailed with such clear-headedness becomes a playground where the actors’ joy and surprise clash with mankind’s destiny and our intrinsic insignificance.

A spontaneous journey through this network of writings, The Great Theatre of Oklahoma shines a light on our blind spots and our strivings for assimilation, to find our place among others…

« Franz Kafka’s work is dense and takes many forms: short stories, diaries, novels, correspondence… a body of writing that is not theatrical in itself, yet rich in theatricality. Several threads particularly interest us and help guide our way through it.

If we speak of taking Kafka as raw material, without presuming a final form, it is because we want to create as closely as possible with the actors. We seek points of connection and tension—what draws them in or repels them, what moves them, what they wish to express or defend through this work, and where Kafka and Atelier Catalyse might overlap.

Kafka’s language will remain present, but reworked by Frédéric Vossier, who is familiar with the actors. This rewriting is essential, as Kafka’s narrative, descriptive language does not always lend itself easily to orality or to the particular style of Catalyse’s performers.

Physical sensation, and the concrete reality of action on stage, will be central. The aim is to act poetically in space, making choreographic and performative work fundamental. Kafka pays close attention to the body in detail: a hand brushing past, an apple being eaten, a tilted head, K.’s heavy step in the snow, the dancing foot of a young girl on a man’s arm. He describes strange scenes, bodies constantly off balance, pairs of individuals unable to move without one another. Choreographic work will be key to exploring this dimension.

Led by Agnieszka Ryszkiewicz, this continues the collaboration begun during the company’s previous creation, Ludwig, un roi sur la Lune. Kafka’s attention to detail is also sonic. Julien Perraudeau, who collaborated on that piece, will compose a soundtrack based on concrete sounds. »

— Madeleine Louarn

Images by Christian Berthelot