Photos Marie Vialle et Pascal Quignard

 

© : Thierry Chassepoux

What is the topic of “Triomphe du temps”?
Time, the passage of time, age and death. The show is very soft, more than I thought it would be. It tells the continuation between the presence of the living and the shadow of the dead, in our dreams, in our sleep, everywhere.

You mentioned tales, how does that fit in with theatre?
Reading it, I didn’t realise they were tales, but I know their physicality as a written text. For me, the interesting thing is to find how to produce theatre from a body and a space, outside the dialogue between two characters on stage. For this new project, I am looking to show a dialogue other than the spoken words exchanged between two actors. It is a totally different, made-up language between our bodies.

 Why did you choose to have two characters?
It really came up during my discussions with Pascal Quignard. I didn’t want to be alone on stage any more, so I asked Pascal when he was writing the play. He said ok but decided I would be the only one to speak. I then chose to work with an actor who would be as different from me as possible, physically and in our stage presence. I want dialogue to always emerge somewhere between speech and silence. Where there is speech, there is also ostensible silence. A silence that feels like extra matter.

Marie Vialle graduated from the École de la rue Blanche-Ensatt and the Conservatoire National Supérieur d’art dramatique in Paris. On stage, she has worked with Jean-Michel Rabeux, Jean-Louis Benoît, Jean-Louis Martinelli, Julie Brochen and many others; on the big screen, she has worked with Michel Spinosa, Vincent Dietschy, and Joseph Morder.

Since 1988, Vietnamese-born Lam Truong has worked with various French directors (Geneviève de Kermabon, Paolo Pontiviane, Gil Galliot, J-C Hembert, and Alain Maratrat) and twice with Bruno Boëglin, in "Pinocchio" (1998) and "Brautigant" (2003).

Pascal Quignard is a French writer and was born in 1948. He has published his first essay, L’être du balbutiement, in 1969. He has been awarded numerous prizes, including the Prix Goncourt in 2002 for Les Ombres errantes (first book in the Dernier Royaume trilogy - Grasset publishers). His novels, Tous les matins du monde and L’occupation américaine have been turned into films by director Alain Corneau. Pascal Guignard is also a cello player and founded in 1990 the Festival d'opéra et de théâtre baroque de Versailles.

“In 2003, when I saw Marie Vialle rehearse “Le nom sur le bout de la langue” in a theatre in Saint Denis, I immediately decided to add two tales. That very night, at the end, I don’t why, it seemed so obvious. So imperative. One tale was not enough. Maybe I wanted to invent “Tales Sonatas”. I admire Marie Vialle very much. From now on, we will be looking together to resolve something I still don’t know. Triomphe du temps is comprised of four tales: one “framework tale” and three internal tales. I needed a silent male actor and Marie, who would not only talk but sing and scream. That’s all I knew as I was writing this sonata.

On stage, I let Marie do her own thing.”

Pascal Quignard.

 Residence and coproduction: Les Subsistances / Lyon / France / 2006.

Coproduced by: Théâtre de Nîmes, Théâtre Garonne, La Comète – Scène Nationale de Châlons en Champagne, Théâtre de la Bastille, Arcadi.