Assistant director
Will-O’-the-Wisp voice
Faust, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
“Faust is a play that enfolds between Heaven and Earth, between the possible and the impossible...”
It is with these words of Goethe that Valentine Losseau and Raphaël Navarro present their latest production. Along with Clément Debailleul, they are the initiators of the “new magic” artistic movement and have accepted to take on the challenge of combining the literary beauty of Faust and the depth of its ideas. They chose to do so with the enchantment of a visual theatre that reconnects with the burlesque dimension, which is present in both the original text and Gérard de Nerval's translation. The strong links between the Faustian myth, esotericism and magic – white and black – offer them the opportunity to implement, far beyond mere visual effects, fifteen years of research in technical processes and spectacular images.
Faust became part of the Repertoire in 1999 but has not been staged since. With this new production, the Comédie-Française has opened its doors to the world of magic. The members of the Comédie-Français Company are learning a new trade but also a stage practice and an unusual form of concentration. Apparitions, disappearances, levitations, holograms, transformations... the perception of reality is blurred. After the wager that God and Mephistopheles make in heaven, Faust welcomes us into his study and invites us to follow his avid search for absolute knowledge in his initiatory voyage.
Performances
Comédie Française
Vieux-Colombier
Paris, France
2018
Staging
Valentine Losseau
Raphaël Navarro
Et qu’as-tu à donner, pauvre diable ?
Cast
Loïc Corbery: Siebel
Laurent Natrella: Faust; magic and puppet manipulation
Véronique Vella: Frosch, A Villager, Servibilis, Marthe; magic manipulation
Benjamin Lavernhe: The Theater Director, Valentin; magic manipulation
Elliot Jenicot: God, The Old Peasant, The Student, The Witch, A Passer-By; magic and puppet manipulation
Christian Hecq: Mephistopheles; magic and puppet manipulation
Yoann Gasiorowski: Vagner, Tavern Companion, A Villager; magic and puppet manipulation
Anna Cervinka: Marguerite; magic and puppet manipulation
Marco Bataille-Testu: Siebel, A Villager; magic manipulation
Thierry Desvignes: Tavern Companion, A Villager; magic and puppet manipulation
Émilie Rault: Will-O’-the-Wisp voice
Valentine Losseau: Adaptation / Magic and staging
Raphaël Navarro: Adaptation / Magic and staging
Gérard de Nerval: Translation
Éric Ruf: Set Design
Vincent Wüthrich: Set Design
Siegrid Petit-Imbert: Costumes
Elsa Revol: Lighting
Claudio Cavallari: Video
Franck Lacourt: Video
Dominique Bataille: Sound
Johanna Ehlert: Puppets
Samuel Lepetit: Puppets
Philippe Beau: Shadows
Émilie Rault: Assistant director
Zoé Pautet: Assistant set designer
Vincent Wüthrich: Technical director of magic effects
Marco Bataille-Testu: Magic effects coordination
Carole Allemand: Masks
Espace et Cie: Set construction
Acknowledgements: Arthur Chavaudret, Clément Debailleul, Yann Frisch, Olivier Poujol, the CNAC, Amadeus and Charlie the dog
A 14:20 Co-Production
Photos by Vincent Pontet