ABOUT US
PLATH - BRITTEN
“I discovered Sylvia Plath years ago, when Delphine and Coralie Seyrig performed a play based on Sylvia Plath’s letters to her mother. So it was through his correspondence and later his diaries, and finally his poetry, that I entered his world.
Her diaries contain her whole life. Because she writes every moment of her life. His dazzles, his falls into darkness, his encounters, his tireless research.
For me, reading this diary is like feeling Sylvia Plath’s pulse.
Feel it speed up, slow down, every day. Perhaps it’s a matter of working towards the poetry that confronts us with its dazzling force.
His poetry, a song, a cry, which goes far beyond any biographical notion, questions life. Destroy to be reborn. Eternally reborn.
It was this poetry that I imagined Charlotte Rampling saying when we decided to work together. Of course I could hear her slightly husky, expressive, cello-like timbre, but above all I felt that carrying Sylvia’s voice, that solitary, radical voice, was for her.
Then I had this intuition, Benjamin Britten. His suites for solo cello. Free and powerful. Such imaginative writing.
From the very first rehearsal, it was obvious.
As if Britten’s universe were not afraid of Plath’s. From its extremes, from the rustle of its tongue. Quite the contrary. He went with her, giving her his hand. Preceding or following it with its haunting marches, its deep songs, its infinite colors, its contrasts, even its humor at times. And his sense of form.”
“There arethings that have their own force, their own logic. And that drive you rather than you driving them.”
PROGRAM
Benjamin Britten, Suite No.2, Op.80, Declamato largo
Sylvia Plath, The Night Dances
Benjamin Britten, Suite No.2, Op.80, Fuga andante
Sylvia Plath, Edge
Sylvia Plath, Ariel
Benjamin Britten, Suite No.2, Op.80, Scherzo allegro molto
Sylvia Plath, Letter in November
Benjamin Britten, Suite No.2, Op.80, Andante lento
Sylvia Plath, Three Women, excerpts
Sylvia Plath, Daddy
Benjamin Britten, Suite No.2, Op.80, Ciaccona allegro
Sylvia Plath, Wintering
Sylvia Plath, Medusa
Benjamin Britten, Suite No.3, Op.87, Barcarola lento
Sylvia Plath, Contusion
Benjamin Britten, Suite No.3, Op.87, Fuga andante espressivo
Sylvia Plath, Love Letter
Benjamin Britten, Suite No.3, Op.87, Introduzione lento
credits & thanks
DESIGN
Sonia Wieder-Atherton and Charlotte Rampling
VOICE
Charlotte Rampling
VIOLINCELLE
Sonia Wieder-Atherton
DESIGN ASSISTANT
Emmanuelle Touati
STAGE DIRECTION
Sonia Wieder-Atherton
LIGHTING CREATIONS
Franck Thévenon
PHOTO CREDITS
Marthe Lemelle
PRODUCTION
Les Visiteurs du Soir
