« Everyone is an abyss, it makes you dizzy to look down into it. » Georg Büchner
Inspired by a series of feminicides reported in the gazettes of the time, Woyzeck is a story of violence that resonates sadly with the chronicles of our time. An investigation into the nature of evil. Thanks to a collaboration with blind and partially-sighted people, we have turned it into a sound ballad in twenty-two fragments. Our Woyzeck is a play that can be seen with your eyes closed. Each spectator has the choice of watching the show come to life behind closed eyelids, or opening their eyes and witnessing the strange ritual behind the scenes.
The crunch of a soldier’s soles, the whisper of a voice in the wind, or the first raindrops of a thunderstorm – these are just some of the elements that set the scene for this long funeral oration with the air of a work song. It was in Afro-American music that we found the loneliness and stigmatisation of people on the margins of society; it was by working with voice-hearers that we were able to give substance to the invisible; and it was in boxing gyms that we sought out the male complicity that is both the foundation and the framework of the drama.
WOYZECK
Based on Woyzeck by Georg Büchner
Directed by Luca Giacomoni
Translation Jean-Louis Besson and Jean Jourdheuil
With Fé Avouglan, Ulysse Bosshard, Luc Brasseur, Nicolas Cambon, Giancarlo Corredor, Flavia Lorenzi, Wabinlé Nabié, Louis Plesse, Mathilde Ponsford
Song research Fé Avouglan
Trumpet Nicolas Cambon
Assistant directors Marie-Eve Dorléans and Kristina Strelkova
Introduction to puppetry Nancy Rusek
Boxing training Luc Brasseur and Fred Voubrel
Costumes and objects Luca Giacomoni
Lighting design Bartolo Filippone
Thanks to Murielle Hénon and Vincent Demassiet of REV France for their valuable insight into the phenomenon of “hearing voices”; to Jule Japhet for his guidance and advice on sound effects; and to Robine Anders for her in-depth analysis of the issue of femicide.
Production Why Theatre / Coproduction Ateliers Médicis (Clichy-sous-Bois and Montfermeil) and Nouveau Gare au Théâtre (Vitry-sur-Seine) / With the support of the City of Paris and the Ministry of Culture as part of the 2024 Cultural Olympiad, the Fondation d’entreprise La Poste, Fondation Jan Michalski, Fondation SNCF, Fondation Humanités, Digital et Numérique and Fondation Meyer pour le développement culturel et artistique / Creative residencies at Ateliers Médicis (Clichy-sous-Bois), Nouveau Gare au Théâtre (Vitry-sur-Seine) and Studio Philippe Genty (Paris).
