« He who has been shipwrecked trembles even in the face of calm waters. » Ovid

In 2018, a friend invited me to propose a theater workshop at the Saint-Denis Women’s House: a shelter, in the Parisian suburbs, for women victims of violence. In order to familiarize myself with the place, I asked to take part in some speech groups: the first one was about excision and female genital mutilation. A sensitive and violent topic, so violent that we prefer to imagine it far away from us. That day, I listened to women talk about this mutilation, experienced by themselves and so many others they had known.

In the group, there was talk of snakes being born in human guise, like children; women being turned into goats, punished for their disobedience. All the participants nodded in silence. These were not tales, allegories: it was their reality. Those people had lived in a world where magic still exists; where mutation is a rational, even necessary process. This session reminded me of Ovid and his Metamorphoses: the invisible in ambush, transformation as the only possible horizon. In the background, the enslavement and domination of women’s bodies.

METAMORPHOSES
Based on The Metamorphoses by Ovid
Directed by Luca Giacomoni
Translation and dramaturgy Sarah Di Bella
With Diariatou Basse, Léna Dangreaux, Laëtitia Eïdo, Clémence Josseau, Hadassah Njengue, Sylvie Togba
Research and choice of music Eugenie De Mey
Singing Eugenie De Mey and Claire Trouilloud (alternating)
Assistant Director Giuseppina Comito
Costumes and objects Luca Giacomoni
Lighting design Bartolo Filippone

Production Why Theatre / In partnership with La Maison des Femmes de Saint-Denis / With the support of City of Paris, Meyer Foundation for Cultural and Artistic Development, Humanités, Digital et Numérique Foundation, L’Accompagnatrice Foundation, Les Ailes Foundation, Berger-Levrault Foundation, Adami and Spedidam / With the support of the integration programme of the École du Théâtre National de Bretagne / Creative residencies at Studio Théâtre (Stains), Gare au Théâtre (Vitry) and Théâtre de la Tempête (Paris).

Duration : 1h