GREAT EXPECTATIONS

THEATRE KAYONAN
Geneva, Switzerland
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
Charles Dickens
directed by
Yvan Rihs
performed by
Michele Millner
Douglas Fowley Jr
music
Yves Cerf
lights
Claire Firmann
costumes
Eva Heymann
Administration
Théâtre Kayonan / 10 avenue Giuseppe-Motta / 1202 Geneva, Switzerland
www.douglasfowleyjr.com / [email protected]
Charles Dickens’
GREAT EXPECTATIONS
Theatre Kayonan
Exploring beyond the allegorical form of theatre developed through his work with mask and
shadow play, and to deepen his experience as a stage actor working with written text, Douglas
Fowley Jr. founded Theatre Kayonan in Paris in 1987. Their first production was an original
performance inspired by Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, presented at the Guichet
Montparnasse.
The company relocated to Geneva, Switzerland in 1990 where it presents works by Englishlanguage authors, such as Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, John Steinbeck, Oscar
Wilde, William Yeats and others. The plays are presented in English and in French to the
international audience. Theatre Kayonan has toured Europe, the United States and Canada.
One-man shows, small casts, playing close to the audience…
Be it comedy, tragedy or both, this simplicity of form provokes a powerful actor-spectator
relationship and enhances both audience pleasure and its perception of the theatrical arts.
Theatre Kayonan works with a variety of directors, authors, actors and composers depending
on the nature of each specific project.
Great Expectations
With this novel, written in the last years of his life, Charles Dickens fashions a mirror of
disturbing, fascinating and at times misleading reflections along a mysterious path from
childhood to maturity. This great 19th-century novel, published in serial form in the 1860s,
comes to life as two actors and a musician explore through sounds, fractured images and
multiple transformations not only the drama and humour of the human condition, but also the
intimacy the solitary reader experiences as he or she becomes the “other” in order to better
become themselves.
The Plot
The young orphan Pip, raised by his shrewish sister and her kind husband Joe, the blacksmith,
leads a humble life in a small 19th-century English town.
One evening, while Pip is visiting his parents’ grave, he meets a terrifying old convict newly
escaped from a near-by prison ship who obliges him to steal some food and a file to free him
from his chains.
Following this adventure, Pip’s life continues in a harsh albeit generally carefree way until he
begins working for Miss Havisham, an old recluse who sits all day in the gloom of her
dilapidated manor house wearing her decaying wedding gown. Pip falls desperately in love
with her adopted daughter Estella - “the girl with no heart” - and is determined to love her in
spite of her insults and bullying.
After several years of loyal service, Pip is suddenly dismissed by Miss Havisham and so
begins his apprenticeship to Joe the blacksmith.
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Pip bitterly resents his humble life until the evening a gentleman from London announces that
he has come into a great fortune bequeathed by an anonymous benefactor and therefore has
great expectations!
Pip, now a young man of wealth, disdainfully leaves his poverty stricken family and his
childhood behind as he moves on to London.
He quickly adopts the mannerisms of his newly acquired social status. He often visits Miss
Havisham’s who ceaselessly places him in contact with Estella and encourages him to fall in
love. Estella, on the other hand, is surrounded by numerous suitors. She tries to make Pip
understand that she was raised to break men’s hearts and that she could never love him.
Pip, in spite of these warnings, waits impatiently for Miss Havisham to reveal herself as his
anonymous benefactor and offer him Estella’s hand. It is at this moment that a mysterious
visitor appears and reveals to him the truth of his inheritance.
The Project
Great Expectations evokes certain vital questions: What is identity? What criteria do we base
our sense of belonging to this world on? Dickens’ novel places the reader in an on-going
process of self-interrogation. It multiplies the references through which our relationship to life
confronts itself. The essence of our play lies in bringing Dickens’ enigmatic mirror game to
life in a suggestive visual acoustic performance. Every character in the novel is Pip’s double,
yet they are also ever-transforming expressions of our own personal desires and frustrations.
They constitute a gallery of extremely well-defined decidedly theatrical characters in a world
where dress, affectation, self-affirmation and personal decline play a vital role.
Our focal point during the creative process has been the relationship between the two actors.
We explore the novel’s seemingly endless variants on how we relate to each other; to those
who are simultaneously mirror and opposing force; to whom we are irresistibly attracted and
by whom we are repulsed; who inspire our great expectations and hinder them at the same
time.
This play should inspire the audience to plunge immediately into the novel but also to reflect
on the nature of our everyday existence. By refraining from imposing a conclusive structure
on the story, we attempt to stimulate the spectator’s search for structure in his or her own life.
Transformation
Great Expectations is inhabited by extravagant, hypocritical, mysterious characters as only
Dickens can describe them. In a whirlpool of metamorphosis, the actors bring not only this
mad multitude to life but fulfil the play’s underlying theme of transformation. Because Pip is
an orphan raised “by hand” at the forge by his shrewish sister, he is obsessed by the desire to
become “another”. His incapacity to be himself is so great, his lack of structure and reference
so deep.
In our Great Expectations Michele Millner plays the hero/narrator Pip but also his nemesis,
the beautiful Estella with the heart of ice. Douglas Fowley Jr incarnates Miss Havisham, old
Magwitch and a number of male and female characters.
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Music
Yves Cerf’s musical score evolved in direct relationship to the creative process and is played
live on stage as the story unfolds. The music is a voice in itself participating in the plot
development. It is based on two main principals: an instantaneous charnel presence in the
instrumental sounds of flutes, saxophones, gongs, chords, etc; but also a transposed circular
sound to create an ever-transforming atmosphere. Although the music is a character in itself,
it is also décor, commentary and feeling. It is organic, creative and intimately connected to the
action, imagination and poetry of the moment.
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CURRICULUM VITAE
Curriculum vitae / Yvan Rihs, the director
Director, playwright, actor Yvan Rihs (born in 1972) is an active protagonist in Geneva theatre.
He has participated in the creation of numerous productions with Théâtre Spirale since 1997, including:
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Man Equals Man / Berthold Brecht / Théâtre de Carouge (2004), dramaturge and actor;
La Cantate Des Berceuses / Théâtre de la Parfumerie (2002), actor;
Sortir De L’ombre / Théâtre de la Parfumerie, Franco-Swiss Tour (1999-2000),
co-author, assistant director;
The Émigrés / Slawomir Mrozek / Théâtre de la Parfumerie (2000), assistant director;
Geneva Cantonal Day Expo ’02 (2002), assistant director.
He has also directed teen theatre workshops participating in the creation of: Twelfth Night; Year Nine Are
Animals;
A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Yvan Rihs participated in the creation of diverse urban installations with the Troupe de Janvier:
En Rade (1997), L’Observatoire (1997-1998), Delits De Fuite (1999).
He holds a Bachelor of Arts (French Literature/Dramaturgy) from the University of Geneva and was awarded the
1999 Hentsch French Literature Award for his is dissertation on author/poet/playwright Armand Gatti.
He conceived and directed Purgatory quartet, an opera composed by Xavier Dayer based on William Yeats’
Purgator, for the European Contemporary Music Festival in Basel (2001).
Mr. Rihs directed the Haitian company Zepon’s production Express Partout touring Switzerland (2004) and
Haiti (2005).
In 2005 he also directed Relais written and performed by Patrick Mohr at the Théâtre de la Parfumerie for the 6th
Annual De Bouche à Oreille Festival followed by an international tour (2005, 2006, 2007).
He directed Benjamin Knobil and Olivier Yglesias in Velère Novarina’s L’Inquietude at the Théâtre de la
Parfumerie (2006).
He directed Valère Novarina’s L’Opérette Imaginaire as a workshop project for pre-professional Geneva
Conservatory drama students (2007).
In 2008 he directed Charles Dickens Great Expectations (a Theatre Kayonan production) at Geneva’s Am Stram
Gram Theatre and the Théâtre de la Parfumerie. Swiss tour (2009)
He created the dramaturgy for Andrea Novicov’s version of Georg Buchner’s Woyzeck (Angledange Company).
Franco-Swiss tour (2009): Maison des Arts de Thonon, Forum-Meyrin, Arsenic Theatre, Théâtre B. Besson,
TPR
In 2009, he directed a workshop creation of Evgueni Schwartz Dragon at the Théâtre de Carouge.
Yvan Rihs has taught text analysis and dramaturgy for pre-professional drama students at the Conservatory of
Geneva as well as conducting theatre workshops for teenagers (E. Schwartz Dragon and Roi Nu, X. Durringer’s
Chroniques, P. Weiss’ Mockinpott, R.W. Fassbinder’s Bouc, C. Serreau’s Quisaitout, H. Levin’s Funérailles
d’Hiver) since 2001.
He has performed with directors Richard Vachoux (Musset’s On Ne Badine Pas Avec L’Amour at the Théâtre de
l’Orangerie), Patrick Heller (Belbel’s Après la pluie at the Théâtre du Galpon), Michele Millner (Shakespeare’s
A Midsummer Night’s Dream at the Théâtre de la Parfumerie), as well as with Lorenzo Malaguerra (Schnitzler’s
Une Ronde)
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Michele Millner / the actress
Michele Millner was born in Chile in 1960. She and her family later immigrated to Australia where, while
attending university, she also studied classical singing at the Conservatory of Music. After the Sidetrack
Performing Group 1980s tour of Australia, she entered Jacques Lecoq’s International School of Theatre in Paris.
She latter performed with her a cappella group The Calypso Sisters in Paris, during the Avignon Festival and in
Australia.
Michele co-founded Geneva’s Théâtre Spirale with Patrick Mohr in 1990. Together they have created more than
20 productions including Soundjata, Frida Kahol, Naissances (Births), Contre (Against), La Petite Nuage (The
Little Cloud), Sortir de l’Ombre (Exit From the Shadows). She has also directed a number of plays such as A
Midsummer Night’s Dream and Year Nine Are Animals. She conducts theatre workshops for children and
teenagers and directs her multicultural choral Chœur Ouvert with which she created a performance piece on
cultural oral tradition La Cantate des Berceuses (The Lullaby Cantata) in 2002.
She often worked as an actor and puppeteer alongside her work with Théâtre Spirale from 1994 through 1999.
Between 1998 and 2002 she performed with singing partner Patricia Tondreau and their Latino American
musical group Santa Raíces in France, Belgium and Switzerland.
Her encounter with Balinese actor-dancers Mas Soegeng and Tapa Sudana, who were associated with Peter
Brook, has had a major influence on her work. She has also worked with Odin Teatret’s César Brie and Peter
Brook’s Burkinabè actor Sotigui Kouyate.
In the world of music she has played with Denis Favrichon, Nicola Orioli, Christophe BErther, Paco Chambi,
Sylvain Fournier and Aves Cerf.
Latest Productions
2003
actor/musician Reveille Moi Quand Je Serais Libre (Wake Me When I’m Free) based on texts by prisoners and
their guards from Geneva’s Champ Dollon prison / dir. Patrick Mohr, Théâtre Spirale
adapted/directed Anne Michaels’ Memoires Fugitives (Fugitive Pieces) in collaboration with the Chœur Ouvert
choir which she created and has directed since 1998
directed La Nuit Des Rois (Twelfth Night) with Théâtre Spirale’s Teenagers Workshop
2004 actor/musician in Berthold Brecht’s Homme Pour Homme (Man Equals Man) at the Théâtre de Carouge
dir. Patrick Mohr
2005
directed Romeo And Juliette a two-year Théâtre Spiral Workshops research-rehearsal project
(a documentary film by Pascal Baumgartner Je verrai à l’aimer was also produced)
conception & actor Balthazar Fait Son Bazar a puppet show for 4 to 8 year-olds / Marionnettes de Genève
2006
conception/creation/actor/singer /director Las Decimas by Violeta Parra
conception/creation/director/singer Nakwach: Songs For The Earth with the Chœur Ouvert et le Chœur Voix et
Regards choirs
La Compagnie Des Loups (The Company Of Wolves) d’après Angela Carter with the Théâtre Spirale Workshops
2007
creation/concert show Poemes Sans Plomb (Leadless Poems) based on poems by Vince Fasciani in collaboration
with musicians Yves Cerf and Mael Godinat
creation/concert show L’augmentation (Increase) based on writings by Georges Perec with the Maison du peuple
de Saint Calud (France) Jazz Workshop in collaboration with Yves Cerf
La Tempete (The Tempest) by Wm. Shakespeare with the Théâtre Spirale Workshops
Un Cabaret Pour Le Troisieme Millenaire (A Cabaret For The Third Millinium) with the Choeur Ouvert
Tours : Las Decimas & Balthazar Fait Son Bazar
2008
L'importance D’etre Constant (The Importance Of Being Ernest) by Oscar Wilde
with the Théâtre Spirale Workshops
revival Un Cabaret Pour Le Troisieme Millenaire revival with the Choeur Ouvert
Tour Las Decimas / Paris, Sicily, Ticino
Singer / Tango during the Fanfare du Loup Orchestra season at the Alhambra Theatre, Geneva
Duo with Yves Cerf / Sunrise Concerts at the Bains de Paquis, Geneva
director La Misa Criolla by Ariel Ramierez with the Choeur Ouvert
director Ni Nue Ni Vetue (Neither Naked Nor Dressed) for the Bouch à Oreille Festival
actor / singer Great Expectations by Charles Dickens / Theatre Kayonan / dir. Yvan Rihs
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Douglas Fowley Jr / comédien
actor / artistic director Theatre Kayonan, Geneva, Switzerland
nationalities USA, Irish, Swiss / born September 30, 1947 / bilingual English & French
Studies, Training & Workshops:
ARTO / BREAD AND PUPPET THEATER / EARTHLIGHT THEATER / INTERNATIONAL DANCE
SCHOOL SERGE GOLOVIN / FOOTSBARN THEATRE / ZIGMUND MOLEK GROTOWSKI
LABORATORY
DAVID HYKES / ODIN TEATRET / PETER BROOK: LES RENCONTRES AUX BOUFFES DU NORD
THEATRE RAGA / THEATRE SERAPHIN / BALINESE THEATRE TOPENG & WAYANG KULIT
voice and translation for fictional, documentary, institutional, television et independent films
member VPS/ASP (Swiss Professional Speakers Association)
2010 co-director KALAVRITA OF THE THOUSAND ANTIGONES by Charlotte Delbo / prod. Ph. Campiche
actor SONGE D’UNE SŒUR by Jean-Michel Wissmer / dir. Roberto Salomon
actor ... AND ADAM by Jelena Dincic (film) / dir. Jelena Dincic
actor HAMLET by William Shakespeare / dir. Yvan Rihs / prod. Théâtre Kayonan
actor THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER / dir. Yvan Rihs / prod. Théâtre Kayonan
2009 actor GREAT EXPECTATIONS by Charles Dickens / dir. Yvan Rihs / prod. Théâtre Kayonan
actor HAMLET by William Shakespeare / dir. Yvan Rihs / prod. Théâtre Kayonan
2008 actor GREAT EXPECTATIONS / dir. Yvan Rihs / prod. Theatre Kayonan
2007 actor FRANKENSTEIN SUPERSTAR / dir. Gabriel Alvarez / prod. C.I.T.A.
2006 actor A CHRISTMAS CAROL by Charles Dickens / prod. Theatre Kayonan
2005 actor LA NONNA by Roberto Cossa / dir. Gabriel Alvarez / prod. C.I.T.A.
actor/storyteller L’HISTOIRE DE FIONN Irish mythology / Festival Bouche A Oreille, Geneva
performance DEAMBULATIONS AU FORUM / Festival La Bâtie, Geneva
performance L’ARMOIR A BLAGUE / Geneva
2004 actor THE PEARL by John Steinbeck / dir. Marcel Robert
co-prod. Theatre Kayonan - Théâtre St-Gervais Genève
2003 actor LE CHANDELIER by Giordano Bruno / dir. Gabriel Alvarez / prod. C.I.T.A.
actor EN ATTENDANT GODOT by Samuel Beckett / dir. Michel Faure, Marcel Robert
performance SUNSET BOULEVARD / prod. Theatre Kayonan
2002 performance LE MINOTAURE by Dürrenmatt / dir. Cyril Tissot, Festival de la Cité, Lausanne
actor LA CANTATE DES BERCEUSES / dir. Michèle Millner, Théatre Spirale
performance GZION by Hervé Blutsch / dir. Gerald Chevrolet / prod. Maisons Mainou, Geneva
actor HIGHWATERS EVERYWHERE (film) / dir. Brian Baxter
performance L’ARMOIR A BLAGUE / Expo ’02 / Switzerland
2001 solo performance PURGATORY by William Yeats / dir. Yvan Rihs / Europäischer Musikmonat, Basel
actor SONGE D’UNE NUIT D’ETE by William Shakespeare / dir. Michèle Millner, Théâtre Spirale
2000 actor OH, LES BEAUX JOURS by Samuel Beckett / dir. Marcel Robert / prod. Théâtre de Séraphin
performance PEER GYNT by Ibsen / Orchestre Suisse Romand
performance LE MINOTAURE by Dürrenmatt / dir. Cyril Tissot, Centre Dürrenmatt, Switzerland
1999 acting director / teacher L’ETAT DE SIEGE by Albert Camus / Ecole R. Steiner, France
solo performance OSCAR WILDE, SACRIFICE / dir. Marcel Robert
prod. Theatre Kayonan - Théâtre St-Gervais Genève / Montreal, Canada
1998 director SOUFFLE an original piece / prod. Theatre Kayonan - Théâtre St-Gervais Genève
performance CHARLES ROLLIER Exposition / Musée Rath, Geneva
acting teacher Le Théâtre d’Ici / La Grange au Lac, Evian, France
public speaking teacher / 12ème Conférence mondial sur le SIDA, ONUSIDA, Geneva
acting director / teacher LE RAMAYANA (Hindu epic), International School, Founex, Switzerland
1997 solo performance OSCAR WILDE, SACRIFICE / dir. Marcel Robert
prod. Theatre Kayonan - Théâtre de Séraphin / Festival La Bâtie, Geneva, KulturKasern, Basel
voice & movement workshop / Hôpital psychiatrique de Marssens, Fribourg, Switzerland
acting director / teacher LES SORCIERES DE SALEM by Arthur Miller / Ecole R. Steiner, France
1995/96 acting director / teacher PEER GYNT by Ibsen / Ecole R. Steiner, France
actor / marionettes MACBETH by William Shakespeare / dir. Marcel Robert
prod. A.R.T.O. – Théâtre St-Gervais Genève
direction and interpretation Marcel Robert, Théâtre Séraphin, France, Switzerland, Germany
actor LA PETITE NUAGE / dir. Mas Soegeng, Théâtre Spirale
solo performance OSCAR WILDE, SACRIFICE / dir. Marcel Robert
prod. Theatre Kayonan / Théâtre St-Gervais Genève / San Francisco, France, Switzerland
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Yves Cerf / Saxophones, kena, composition
Musical Improvisation :
2004-05 Duos Illégaux with Jacques Demierre, Marcel Papaux, Christian Graf, Jérome Lefebvre. Chroniques
Sonores for the « Fureur de Lire à Genève » 1999-2003 Ephémérides with Carol Ossipow (Spain, France,
Switzerland) Zoo Sonore (created for children / AMR Jazz Festival, Geneva) Ornithologies (Cerf-FolmerEsmerode) (Grenoble Jazz Festival, Living Arts Festival, Lausanne City Festival) 1994-98 tours with Yves Cerf
Samayac (Spain, France, Switzerland), Vinz Vonlanthen Urban Safari (France, Germany, Holland, Belgium,
Czech Republic, Austria, Japan, Switzerland) and Ian Gordon-Lennox Low Brass (Italy, Africa, Switzerland).
Numerous concerts and festivals with other groups : Ipso Facto, Jean-Yves Poupin, Kashoub, Michel
Bastet, Yves Cerf Duos Illégaux, etc.
Music for Theatre :
2004-06 Las Décimas (Violeta Parra – Michele Millner) Soundtracks for Balthazar (Marionnettes de Genève) et
La Boite à Surprises (Grütli Theatre) 2003-2004 Le Tribune Fanfare du Loup and J-L Hourdin 2002 Cantate
des Berceuses (Michele Millner) Territoires (Michel Faure, Serge Martin, Yves Cerf). Composition and
performance with the Fanfare du Loup : 2004-06 5 concerts et 5 bals (Saison 1) 2003 La chèvre de Mr Seguin,
Brut de Fanfares 2001 Hors de Portées 2000 On Achève Bien Les Chevaux (100% Acrylique Company) 1998
Novecento (Théâtre du Loup). Brassens, Chansons (Jean Louis Hourdin Company) 1997 Le Bal Perdu (Fanfare
and Théâtre du Loup). 1997 Les femmes de Luc J. (100% Acrylique Company and City Perc). 1996 El Halia
(Jean-Louis Hourdin Company). 1994 Boby (Jean-Louis Hourdin Company and Gérard Guillaumat). Quartier
Libre (Fanfare du Loup/Sandro Rossetti). 1992 Farces (Jean-Louis Hourdin Company). 1992 Guanahani
musical recitation with J. Demierre, N. Rojas, F. Berthet and H. Zegara. 1991 Recherche Eléphants… (Théâtre
du Loup). 1990 Casimir et Caroline (Jean-Louis Hourdin Company). 1988-90 soundtracks for Jules César
(Shakespeare/Stratz), La tragédie du Vengeur (Tourneur/Salomon), Le deuil sied à Electre (O’Neil/Salomon).
Music for Film :
2003 Un Monde d’Errance feature film by Patrick Roques 2002 Demain, On Court feature film by Michèle
Rosier 2000 Malraux Tu M’Etonnes feature film by Michèle Rosier 1995 Pullman Paradis feature film by
Michèle Rosier 1994 Saison Sèche film by Herbert Binggeli.
Other Things :
1974-79 flutist with the Bolivien orchestra Los Jairas. 1981 clown musician with the Medrano Circus. 1982-83
composition studies at the CIM in Paris. 1984 Sacem Composition Award (Triode, Jazz de la Défense
Competition). 1985-90 member of Smac (Jazz Festivals: Zurich, Le Mans, Grenoble, Kristianstadt, etc). 1990-99
countless dance concerts with the Fanfare du Loup and Nelson Rojas (salsa). Solos and duos with Duos Illégaux.
Discography / A Selected List:
Ornithologies (Altrisuoni). Yves Cerf and Carol Ossipow : Ephémérides (Zone 13, distribution Plainisphare)
Yves Cerf Samayac (Unit Records 4079). Fanfare du Loup : Chèvre de Mr Seguin / Hors de Portées / l’Ile du
Cabotin / Novecento / Pic-nic Mambo (Plainisphare) Smac : Mensonges (Unit Records 4028). Vinz
Vonlanthen : Urban Safari (Carbon 7-015) and Telegram from Mars (Unit Records 4112). Pullman Paradis Go
Film Productions. Brassens, Chansons J.L. Hourdin Company. Vinyl Records : Triode Cerf, Paillard, Roucan,,
Folmer. Cobra Corpus Quintet. Los Jairas en vivo. Canto a la vida Los Jairas. Conjunto Machu Pichu vol.
1,2 et 3 Rca Peru.
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