She is the “theatre woman” for whom Romeo Castellucci sculpted a performance worthy of Racine’s famous tragedy.
Missing from his list of names is a name already attached to Bob Wilson, Krzysztof Warlikowski, Ivo van Hove and Thiago Rodriguez… It’s been done. Isabelle Hooper is Berenice for Romeo Castellucci’s new production. We meet him in the dressing room, with a tan and a black sweater, between two rehearsals.
Madame Figaro. – What is the origin of this project? Did you enjoy it, as you sometimes do in the theater?
Isabelle Huppert. – No, I had no idea that our paths would cross with Romeo Castellucci. This is an initiative of Printemps des Comédiens in Montpellier. developer Eric Barth had the idea for this meeting. And climbing Berenice came from Romeo.
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In his fiction, Romeo Castellucci writes: “Isabel Huppert is the synecdoche of Western theater art,” before concluding “Isabel Huppert is theater.” What effect does it have?
I’m already learning what synecdoche means. I remember that it goes from nothing to everything, or that it takes more for less. Everything is fine with me. And perhaps it is especially necessary to understand “the theater seen by Romeo Castellucci”… I am proud that he enthrone me, being the guardian of his vision of the theater. A specific, holistic vision. His work is a score that is both sonic and visual. There is a text, obviously, but his theater is really a fusion of these elements.
Sound is really important in his work. Come down, Moses! Presented at the Theater de la Ville in Paris in 2014, with great sound intensity…
From the beginning of our experiments, the main accent has been sounded. The music itself, as composer Scott Gibbons is associated with this piece. He is an American who regularly collaborates with Romeo. In Montpellier, where the performance was created at the end of February, we were on the theater stage. Finally, we discovered the decor, the staging.
As for Racine, this is the second time you have performed him. It was the first Phaedra(s), with the last “s”…
Krzysztof Warlikowski’s show created at the Odeon Theater in Paris in 2016. By Waidi Mouawadi, Sarah Kane and J. It was actually the first time I told Russ, but I only said a small part of it.
I am proud that Romeo Castellucci invests me to be the custodian of his vision for the theater
Isabelle Huppert
In Berenice, there are 1506 alexandrins…
It’s overwhelming, absolutely beautiful. Racine was 31 when he wrote Berenice. It’s total perfection. Berenice’s character is the height of emotion. And then, sometimes, specific elements appear, didascalia, which says: “He lets himself sit.” There is something spatial, we feel coming and going. The way the author brings people in and out… This creates an atmosphere around Berenice, but above all, a huge loneliness.
And back to the Alexandrians…
It is musical, it conveys rhythm. A bit like rap! Rhythmic, rhythmic language. Romeo uses it in his vocal design, he implies and sometimes reinforces the alexandrine.
You were talking about Berenice’s loneliness…
Bérénice is the height of solitude. This, in any case, is what Romeo insists most in his production. In this play, for once, no one dies, but love dies… No one dies, but everyone threatens to die. It is truly a tragedy. And she, Berenice, announces at one point: “Let us live.”
In the play, no one dies, but everyone threatens to die. And it is Berenice who declares. “Let’s Live”
Isabelle Huppert
What does the longevity of your career, time, bring you?
Nothing. Just the joy of new adventures, or rather experiences. You might think it’s a gamble, but to me it’s a certainty. Not on the result, but on the richness of the match. I clean completely unknown areas… But time is also a repetition, a ritual work. A ritual that repeats itself. Except that within this ever-different ritual, every time is the first time.
It must be said that you deal with mountains. We think of Bob Wilson’s productions as Orlando 1993 or more recently Mary said what she said …
Yes, mountains. But, as they say, the view at the top is beautiful. i played Mary…in Stockholm Dramaten in December, in May at the Barbican Center in London, then in New York, South Korea, and later in Paris.
Are you practicing alternative…
To tell you the truth, I will play too The Glass Menagerie in China and resume The cherry orchard ! I love seeing these shows again, it makes me a little worried that I won’t be playing again. Theater is transient. There are shows like 4.48 PsychosisThe ones by Sarah Kane or Claude Régi, which have no trace because there was no recording… That’s why I also go to the theater a lot as an audience.
Theater is fleeting
Isabelle Huppert
Other news A few days ago, one of your films from the 1990s was released. Flood …
It was restored by Les Films du Camélia. Flood It is Zamyatin’s short novel Crime and punishment a woman I discovered thanks to Michelle Pollack and bought the rights to. It was directed by Igor Minaev, we shot it in Moscow at -30°C. It is a very beautiful film, not realistic… I also went to the Berlin Film Festival, where I presented two films. Traveler’s needsBy Hong Sang-soo, in competition, and The People’s Door:By Andre Techine, in the Panorama selection.
I return to this statement “Isabel is theater.” What is the best compliment someone has ever given you?
That one! And not because it’s the latest…
Berenice, by Racine, directed by Romeo Castellucci, with Isabelle Huppert… March 5-28 at the Thâtre de la Ville, Paris, then on tour. theatredelaville-paris.com
Source: Le Figaro
