INTERNATIONAL SHOW
The Letter
La Lettre
ARTIST: Milo Rau
80 min | Ages 14+
- March 7, 8, and 9, Saturday at 7 PM, Sunday and Monday at 6 PM
- Teatro do SESI-SP - Centro Cultural Fiesp | Av. Paulista, 1313, Bela Vista
- Accessible Location
- The session on March 9 features interpretation in Brazilian Sign Language (Libras) and audio description.
SYNOPSIS
Poking fun at the premise that a young artist is shaped as much by their roles as by their family history, the theater director Milo Rau explores, in this scenic etude, the events that imperceptibly alter the course of our lives: generational conflicts, political history, love, and death. Lighthearted and full of humour, seeking to create theatre by creating a community, the show is a manifesto on what popular theatre can be today. From the story of Joan of Arc to Chekhov’s The Seagull, the performance unfolds on multiple levels, in a constant back-and-forth between art and life. Even the dead return to the stage, with the help of recorded voices.
BACKGROUND
Milo Rau, born in Bern, Switzerland, is a director, playwright, essayist, and filmmaker. His is a theatre of the real, directly engaging with our contemporary concerns. He explores violence in society through plays that have often been presented in Avignon, such as The Last Days of the Ceaușescus and Hate Radio. He likes to begin with the intimacy of people’s everyday lives before gradually revealing the violence and grandeur of a tragedy. Since 2002, he has created around 50 shows and, in 2017, he was appointed artistic director of the Belgian theater NTGent. He is currently the director of the Vienna Festival. In 2019, he was the Artist in Focus at the 6th MITsp, where he presented three works: The Repetition. Histoire(s) du Théâtre (I), Five Easy Pieces, and Compassion. The History of The Machine Gun.
CRITICAL RECEPTION
“With La Lettre, Milo Rau is led to a modest form, which proves to be a true little lesson in theater, as moving as it is enjoyable, intertwining reality and imagination with simplicity and mastery.”
Fabienne Darge, Le Monde
“Rau seeks catharsis from ancient tragedy. And although this play is lighthearted and funny, it does not escape the dictum that the author has imposed on himself for years: ‘It is not enough to represent the world. You have to change it.’ It is up to us to dare to face pain. To represent it. To offer it. As Arne and Olga do before the audience. A kind of mystical gift.”
Fabienne Pascaud, Télérama
CREDITS
Direction: Milo Rau
Texto: Milo Rau and team
With: Arne De Tremerie, Olga Mouak
Voices: Anne Alvaro, Isabelle Huppert, Jocelyne Monier, Marijke Pinoy
Dramaturgy: Giacomo Bisordi
Artistic assistants: Giacomo Bisordi, Edward Fortes
Set design, sound design, light design, costumes and props design: Milo Rau, Giacomo Bisordi
Costumes and props assistant: Julie Louvain
Technical manager: Laurent Berger
Sound manager: Nadal Marchal
Production: Festival d’Avignon
Coproduction: Éclat – Centre National des Arts de la Rue et de l’Espace Public (Aurillac), Théâtre de la Manufacture – Centre Dramatique National Nancy Lorraine, Théâtre Silvia Monfort (Paris), Théâtre Public de Montreuil – Centre Dramatique National, Théâtre du Champ au Roy – Scène Conventionnée d’Intérêt National Art & Création (Guingamp), Le Canal Théâtre de Redon – Agglomération Scène Conventionnée d’Intérêt National, CCAS Activités Sociales de l’Énergie, Scène 55 – Scène Conventionnée d’Intérêt National Art & Création (Mougins), Théâtre Durance – Scène Nationale (Château-Arnoux-Saint-Auban), La Soufflerie – Scène Conventionnée de Rezé
With the support of: Fondation d’Entreprise AG2R LA MONDIALE pour la Vitalité Artistique
Acknowledgements: Odéon Théâtre de l’Europe (Paris), Stéphane Braunschweig e o time do La Mouette, Les Plateaux Sauvages (Paris), La Commune – Centre Dramatique National d’Aubervilliers