DP PKM dossanglais - Nouveau Théâtre de Montreuil

© Pierre Grosbois
LYON - Les Subsistances (FR) /February 2011
PARIS – Théâtre de la Bastille (FR) /March 2011
NEW-YORK Festival Walls and Bridges (US) /October 2011
Coming soon …
TOULOUSE – Théâtre National de Toulouse (FR) /December 2011
NANTES– Le Lieu Unique (FR) /January 2012
VALENCE– La Comédie de Valence (FR) / January 2012
BRUXELLES - Théâtre 140 (BE) /January 2012
ALENÇON (FR) /February 2012
Angoulême – Théâtre d’Angoulême
Scène Nationale (FR)
December 2, 2013
MONTBELIARD L’Allan (FR) /March 2012
MONTREUIL - Nouveau théâtre de Montreuil (FR) /March2012
SALAMANQUE - Festival Facyl (ES) /June 2012
GENEVE - Festival La Bâtie (CH) /September 2012
VILLENEUVE D’ASCQ - La Rose des Vents (FR) /October 2012
Montpellier – Rockstore / Théâtre des
13 vents (FR)
December 5 and 6, 2013
ROUEN – Théâtre des 2 Rives (FR) /April 2013
MENDE – Adda Scènes Croisées (FR) /April 2013
BOURGES - Maison de la Culture (FR) /May 2013
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Nouveau théâtre de Montreuil – centre dramatique national
PLEASE KILL ME
After Legs
McNeil and Gillian McCain’s novel
adaptation, conception and stage direction
Mathieu Bauer
artistic collaboration and musical adaptation Sylvain
video
Stéphane Lavoix
lighting design
Jean-Marc Skatchko
sound Dominique
with
Cartigny
Bataille
Matthias Girbig and Kate Strong
drums
Mathieu Bauer
sampler, bass
Lazare Boghossian
bass guitar Sylvain
Cartigny
First production by Sentimental Bourreau, Les Subsistances (Lyon), with the support of
Spedidam. Rerun production by Nouveau théâtre de Montreuil centre dramatique national.
With the kind authorization of Riverside Literary Agency
Duration: 1h25
VIDEO CLIP : HTTP://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=KFYD_VUOLE8
The show is available for touring in 2013/2014/2015
In French or English
Tour contact
Nathalie Remy
[email protected]
00 33 (0)1 48 70 48 95
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Nouveau théâtre de Montreuil – centre dramatique national
« Rock’n’roll is so great that people should die for it. »
This statement by Lou Reed, taken from Please
Kill Me – Legs McNeil and Gilian McCain’s oral
history – encapsulates what is at stake in this
performance, which follows the tracks of Iggy
Pop, Jim Morrison Richard Hell, Lou Reed, Tom
Verlaine, Dee Dee and Joey Ramone, Sid Vicious,
Stable Star and Billy Murcia.
Rock ‘n’ Roll – an old history still very much
alive today – is both the expression of a
Dionysian impulse and of a teenager’s joyful
rebellion. Fueled with anecdotes from McNeil
and McCain’s book, which are at times amusing
and at times frightening, the play delves into
the punk movement through New York’s CBGB’s
and Max’s Kansas City Club. It turns rock and
punk music inside out, revealing the life of the
protagonists with surprising intimacy – an
extravagant life filled with music, sex, humour
and massive amounts of drugs – sometimes
leading to overdoses – not to mention the
trials and tribulations that go with living in the margins.
© Pierre Grosbois
But what is most striking in these more or less famous heroes of Rock ‘n Roll – and indeed, at the
time, many were far from famous –, is their freedom and creativity.
Mathieu Bauer is in no way trying to recreate a punk concert, which would be an impossible venture.
Instead, he brings to the stage what is most crucial to him, thrilled as he is by the tormented lives
of the musicians, however known they may be.
ROCK THEATRE
A drummer by training, Mathieu Bauer became
interested in theater by way of music. Both
arts intertwine in his practice, as he doesn’t
view life without one or the other.
Being part of a generation fascinated with the
dreams and excesses of the 1970s, he has of
course read Please Kill Me, the oral history of
the Gods of punk written by Legs McNeil and
Gillian McCain.
On stage are three musicians and a pair of
actors/singers. Matthias Girbig plays a young
man filled with naiveté and wonder, who moves
from one memory to another, and sings in
English. Kate Strong, a tensed, focused
performer, keeps a sort of moved distance as
she sings and tells the story in English. The
voice carries the words without translating or
betraying them.
© Pierre Grosbois
As is often the case in Mathieu Bauer’s pieces, the musical composition acts as a counterpoint to
the book’s musical world, exploring contrasts and moving territories, with the music also supporting
the narrative.
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Nouveau théâtre de Montreuil – centre dramatique national
ASSERTING A FORM OF URGENCY
“Above all, what I like in these flamboyant
characters in the punk scene is that they are
asserting something. Even “No Future” is a
form of assertion. It expresses the will to
seize the moment, here and now. It is the
assertion of a form of urgency.”
With deadpan irony or cheeky humour, the
protagonists of the punk movement revive the
most surprising anecdotes in several moments
in their lives. They are not in the least
ashamed to expose what was, after all, an
extreme lifestyle, not so much linked to the
British punk movement as to a form of
paradoxical innocence, which rejected the
hackneyed “peace and love” ideals of the 60s
and the “money rules” culture which could already be felt at the turn of the 80s.
© Pierre Grosbois
But there’s a price to pay for this way of living (ODs, stabbing, prostitution), in which derision is
used as a weapon of mass destruction.
How can all this energy, chaos and decibels be expressed? How can one convey what this movement
produced in terms of bodies (Iggy Pop’s dancing), words (the invention of a language to write about a
generation), codes (in terms of esthetics or fashion), morals (bisexuality, transsexuality…) or politics
(a kind of nihilism entangled in the present)?
These characters express the need to live differently, with a mix of courage and unconsciousness, to
invent or create something, to push themselves to the limit. These elements give the stories an epic
or, in turn, trivial dimension, which is eventually quite moving.
I don’t want to reproduce or mimic anything, I want to express this vitality, this energy, this
abandon on stage. I don’t want to cry over a golden age, but to convey our tenderness towards these
characters - with some melancholy perhaps, but with no nostalgia whatsoever.”
Mathieu Bauer
PLEASE KILL ME
The Uncensored Oral History of Punk
Please Kill Me is the (poisonous) fruit of hundred of interviews with the people who contributed to one
of the most tumultuous cultural and musical movements of the late 20th century: the American punk
rock scene.
The book is a tightly woven, extremely lively montage, in turn ruthlessly funny and downright tragic,
in which voices respond to each other but rarely come in unison. They offer an incredible journey
through everyday lives filled with drugs and catastrophes, drugs and (sometimes) poetry – those of
the Velvet Underground, Iggy Pop’s Stooges, MC5, the New York Dolls, Johnny Thunders’s
Heartbreakers, Patti Smith, Television, the Ramones and Blondie.
Legs McNeil was born and raised in Connecticut where, to this day, the sale of alcohol after 8 pm is
banned. Consequently, as a teenager, he had to head to New York to quench his thirst. In 1975, aged
18, he founded the mythical fanzine Punk. In the 80s, he worked as Chief Editor of Spin magazine.
Today, he lives alone in New York and drinks Pepsi.
Gillian McCain run the “Poetry Project” at St. Mark’s Church in New York in the 1970s, a program which
launched Patti Smith, among others. Today, she lives in New York.
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Nouveau théâtre de Montreuil – centre dramatique national
MATHIEU BAUER’S BIOGRAPHY
Stage director - Musician
Head of Nouveau théâtre de Montreuil
Mathieu Bauer’s main concern is to create works whose topics resonate with the stakes of our times.
Guided by the notion of a theater closely linked to music, cinema and literature, where montage is
conceived as a way to put down barriers between artistic forms, Mathieu Bauer works from very
diverse texts and materials: newspaper articles, essays, novels, films, operas, and of course theater
plays. He composes new structures which combine rhythm, text, singing and image. Here lies the
specificity of his work and the basic logic of his theatrical practice.
Trained as a musician, he founded the Sentimental Bourreau company with other artists. This
collective adventure resulted in several pieces which still contribute to the company’s fame, such as
Les Carabiniers, based on scripts by Jean-Luc Godard, Rossellini and Jean Gruau (1989); La Grande
Charge Hystérique after Invention de l’hystérie by G. Didi Huberman (1991); Va-t’en chercher le
bonheur et ne reviens pas les mains vides after Nathanael West, Brecht and Gagarine (1995); Satan
conduit le bal after Panizza, Pessoa and J.D. Vincent (1997) and Tout ce qui vit s’oppose à quelque
chose after Kant, Lucretius and G. Didi Huberman (1998 -1999).
Since 1999, Mathieu Bauer has been the sole stage director and head of the company, while still
working with some of his past collaborators, and with new ones, such as the actress Kate Strong,
video artist Stéphane Lavoix...
These collaborations resulted in Les Chasses du comte Zaroff after Masse et Puissance by Elias
Canetti; Drei Time Ajax after a poem by Heiner Müller (2003); L’Exercice a été profitable Monsieur
after Serge Daney (2003); Rien ne va plus after Stefan Zweig and Georges Bataille (2005); Top Dogs by
Urs Widmer (2006); Tendre jeudi after John Steinbeck (2007), Tristan et... a free adaptation based on
Richard Wagner’s libretto with texts by Lancelot Hamelin (2009). In 2011, Mathieu Bauer first staged
Please kill me at Subsistances in Lyon and at Théâtre de la Bastille in Paris.
Together with his company, Mathieu Bauer has been invited to events of international scale such as
Festival d’Avignon, Arts Festival in Castilla y Leon (Salamanca), Culturgest festival in Lisbon,
Rhurspielefestival, VIA festival in Maubeuge…
Simultaneously, he has also kept working as an independent musician and composer, which has
enabled him to form ties with Marstall Theater in Munich and the Schauspiele in Frankfurt.
In France, two theaters have played a major role in this career: MC 93 in Bobigny, as well as Nouveau
Théâtre de Montreuil, both coproducing regularly his work.
In July 2011, he has been appointed as director of Nouveau Théâtre de Montreuil.
In 2012/2013, he has created A Rift, a theatrical serie modelled on American TV series. He has also
restaged at Théâtre des Bouffes du Nord-Paris Qu'on me donne un ennemi, first produced in 2003,
with André Wilms, based on the story of Ajax - a poem of Heiner Müller.
Mathieu Bauer is preparing a new creation for the beginning of 2015 The hauting melody, about the
notion of listening, through an exploration of the sounds and their meanings.
THE PERFORMANCE’S TEAM
SYLVAIN CARTIGNY
Musician / composition
Cofounder of the Sentimental Bourreau company with Mathieu Bauer, he has participated in all the
company’s productions since 1990 and has been its main composer for many years.
He has practiced his art for the theater with Robert Cantarella, Christophe Huysmans, Michel
Deutsch, André Wilms and Wanda Golonka.
In cinema, he has collaborated with Charles Castella, Stéphane Guisti, Charles Berling, Stéphane
Gatti.
He is also part of the rock band France Cartigny.
Moreover, he has worked as an actor with stage director Phiilippe Faucon.
Sylvain Cartigny will closely contribute to the artistic project of Nouveau théâtre de Montreuil.
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Nouveau théâtre de Montreuil – centre dramatique national
MATTHIAS GIRBIG
Actor / singing
Matthias Girbig is a member of the T.O.C. company (Théâtre Obsessionnel Compulsif): Le Théâtre
MERZ by Kurt Schwitters (2007-2008), Turandot by Bertolt Brecht (2007-2009), Robert Guiscard by
Heinrich Von Kleist (2005-2006), Electrolution Révonique 23 (ER23) a production centering on W. S.
Burroughs (2003-2005), Entrée Libre by R. Vitrac (2002), Jet de Sang by Antonin Artaud (2001),
L’exception et la règle by Bertolt Brecht (2000-2001).
He also plays in Homme pour homme by Bertolt Brecht directed by Bernard Sobel, Travaux autour de
Shadowtime by Bernstein directed by Mirabelle Rousseau in collaboration with Frédéric Fisbach,
L’Annonce faite à Marie by Paul Claudel directed by Frédéric Fisbach.
In 2009, Matthias Girbig collaborated with Mathieu Bauer for the first time by playing in Tristan et…
He is now playing one of main character in the theatrical serie, a Rift.
In cinema, he can be seen in Coluche, l’histoire d’un mec by Antoine De Caunes (2008). He also plays in
Elizabeth: the Virgin Queen, a 4-episode serial produced by the BBC (2005).
He directed Les Films des Galinacés and Filmavie(s), which were granted the price for Best Short
Feature Film at Festival INSEEC ART 2002.
KATE STRONG
Actress / singing
Kate Strong was born in London in the early 1960s and trained as a ballet dancer for 8 years at the
Royal Ballet School. She then entered the Zurich Ballet, George Balanchine's satellite company in
Europe. From 1984 to 1994, she continued her dancing career with William Forsythe's Frankfurter
Ballett. For the two following years, she worked with Johann Kresnik at Berlin’s Volksbuhne, and with
Frank Castorf during the next five years.
She has been working on a great variety of projects and theatrical productions since 2002, which has
enabled her to meet numerous artists, directors, composers, etc.
Today, she participates in many projects: Artifact by William Forsythe (Royal Ballet of Flanders); the
one woman show Narcisse-0, on tour in France and Switzerland; Michaël Müller's Art installation Das
Scheitern Der Oberfläche (Thomas Schulte Galerie, Berlin); Karin Henkel's Macbeth at the Muenchener
Kammerspiel (Munich), a stage director for whom she will also perform in Les Contes de la Forêt
Viennoise in 2012 at the Zurich Schauspiel (Switzerland). She recently got the prize for her role in
Artifact together with Sylvie Guilheme from Tanz magazine (Germany).
LAZARE BOGHOSSIAN
Musician
Lazare Boghossian composed film scores for Philippe Aratingi, Charles Berling, Véronique Bourgoin,
Charles Castella, Nils de Coster, Henry Fellner, Stéphane Gatti, Stéphane Giusti, Roberto Ohrt,
Stéphane Kazandjian, Christophe Lamotte, Marion Larry, André Téchiné, Richard Copans, Denis
Vanwaerbecke, Martin Wheeler, Hugues de Wurstemberger.
He also composed scores for the theatre and radio, notably for Hélène Alexandridis, Laurent Augée,
Mathieu Bauer, Laurence Courtois, Juliette Deschamps, Michel Deutsch, Philippe Eustachon, Armand
Gatti, Wanda Gollonka, Claude Guerre, Blandine Masson, Jean-Michel Rabeux, Olivier Rollin, Juli Susin,
Yvett Rotscheid, André Wilms, Nathalie Schmitt.
He wrote and staged Du bon usage de son instrument at La Parole Errante in Montreuil (2001).
Together with Aurélia Petit, he wrote and staged La cage aux blondes (2005) and Prologue, performed
in 2007 at Théâtre National de Chaillot. He later adapted and staged Antonio Lobo Antunes’s Lettres
de la guerre with Aurélia Petit at MC 93 (2011).
STEPHANE LAVOIX
video artist
Stéphane Lavoix has been creating images for theatrical productions for about ten years, after
having been trained in digital techniques, special effects and motion design, and having worked in
post-production for cinema and television. He also contributes to the online development and
creation of interactive artistic installations.
He started working for the theater as a video production manager on several productions at Théâtre
de Nanterre-Amandiers and Théâtre National de Chaillot, as well as on productions directed by
Antoine Gindt, Rachid Ouramdane and Benoît Bradel.
He has been collaborating with Mathieu Bauer’s company Sentimental Bourreau since 2002, as well as
with Joachim Latarjet, Jade Duviquet, Jean-Louis Martinelli, Xavier Maître & Bruno
Freyssinet, Séverine Chavrier.
In 2012, he recently collaborate with Mathieu Bauer by creating videos for the theatrical serie, A Rift.
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Nouveau théâtre de Montreuil – centre dramatique national
PRESS
15 mars 2011- René Solis
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Nouveau théâtre de Montreuil – centre dramatique national
18 mars 2011 – Philippe Chevilley
Ballade punk
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Nouveau théâtre de Montreuil – centre dramatique national
14 mars 2011 – Marie-Josée Sirach
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Nouveau théâtre de Montreuil – centre dramatique national
9-15 mars 2011 – Patrick Sourd
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Nouveau théâtre de Montreuil – centre dramatique national