LA LETTRE
by Milo Rau
Photo: Christophe Raynaud de Lage
Duration: 75 min
Language: French with English / German subtitles
Actors: Arne De Tremerie, Olga Mouak
With the voices of Anne Alvaro, Isabelle Huppert, Jocelyne Monier, and Marijke Pinoy
Director: Milo Rau
Text: Milo Rau and team
Dramaturgy: Giacomo Bisordi
Assistant Directors: Giacomo Bisordi, Edward Fortes
Scenic Design, Sound, Lighting, Costumes, and Props:
Milo Rau and Giacomo Bisordi
Assistant, Costumes and Props: Julie Louvain
Production: Festival d’AvignonÂ
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 conventionnĂ©e d’intĂ©rĂŞt national Art & CrĂ©ation (Guingamp), Le Canal Théâtre de Redon AgglomĂ©ration Scène conventionnĂ©e d’intĂ©rĂŞt national, CCAS ActivitĂ©s sociales de l’énergie, Scène 55 Scène conventionnĂ©e d’intĂ©rĂŞt national Art & CrĂ©ation (Mougins), Théâtre Durance Scène nationale (Château-Arnoux-Saint-Auban), La Soufflerie Scène conventionnĂ©e de RezĂ©Â
Acknowledgements: Odéon Théâtre de l’Europe (Paris), Stéphane Braunschweig and the team of La Mouette, Les Plateaux Sauvages (Paris), La Commune Centre dramatique national d’Aubervilliers
Poking fun at the premise that a young artist is shaped as much by their roles as by their family history, 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 theater by creating a community, LA LETTRE is a manifesto on what popular theater 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.
The result is a stand-up melodrama in the form of a double helix: as the actors — Olga Mouak and Arne De Tremerie — embark on an honest, absurd, and shocking journey through their deeply personal histories of theater — from Sophocles to casting couches, from Chekhov to the #MeToo movement — there emerges a profound exploration of the soul of the performing arts, and of the art of living itself.
Contributors
milo rau
director, playwright
Milo Rau is a Swiss theater director, playwright, essayist, and filmmaker. He creates a “theater of the real,” directly engaging with our contemporary concerns. His work examines violence in society in productions such as "The Last Days of Ceaușescu", "Hate Radio", "The Repetition", and "Antigone in the Amazon", all presented at the Avignon Festival. For Rau, the starting point is the intimacy of people’s lives and everyday experiences, through which he gradually reveals both the violence and the grandeur of tragedy. Since 2002, he has created around fifty productions. In 2017, he was appointed Artistic Director of NTGent (Belgium) and currently serves as Director of the Vienna Festival (Wiener Festwochen).