28.05 — 01.06
Mohamed El Khatib Orléans
La vie secrète des vieux
theatre — premiere
| French → NL, EN | ⧖ ±1h30 | €21 / €17
Will we still know love in the last stage of our lives? When theatre maker Mohamed El Khatib developed an artistic practice in retirement homes, transforming them into art centres, he was moved by the intimate lives of older people. In previous productions, El Khatib, a master in documentary art, has developed an exceptional practice that brings personal stories to the stage. With this new creation, La vie secrète des vieux, he accompanies participants between 75 and 102 years old to tell us their love stories. Facing up to ageing means confronting the gaze of society while observing one’s worn-out body and its creeping threat to autonomy. Still, love remains, and desire can be accompanied by reinvented sexuality. This desire no longer conforms to performance or social pressure but develops its own rhythm and fragile intimacy, sometimes just as intense. Through encounters with the elderly, we discover their experience of love and how they still make love. This landscape of third-age love presents a nostalgic picture of our romantic assessments and a promise that desire can nestle in the fragility of our lives, to the very last moment.
28.05
29.05
- 19:30
- + aftertalk
- Sold out — Register to the ticket alert
30.05
31.05
01.06
- 18:00
- + Audio description
- Sold out — Register to the ticket alert
Presentation: Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles
Concept and creation: Mohamed El Khatib | With alternating cast members depending on their longevity: Annie Boisdenghien, Micheline Boussaingault, Marie-Louise Carlier, Chille Deman, Martine Devries, Jean-Pierre Dupuy, Yasmine Hadj Ali, Salimata Kamaté, Jacqueline Juin, Jean Paul Sidolle | Dramaturgy and artistic coordination: Camille Nauffray | Scenography and artistic collaboration: Fred Hocké | Video: Emmanuel Manzano | Sound: Arnaud Léger | Technical manager: Jonathan Douchet | Production manager: Gil Paon | Interviews: Vanessa Larré, Vassia Chavaroche, Marie Desgranges | Artistic collaboration and support for rehearsals: Mathilde Chadeau, Vassia Chavaroche, Elliot Delvaux | Occupational therapists: Virginie Tanda, Paul Ceulenaere, Anne-Marie Di Giambattista, Vinciane Watrin | Administration: Cécile Boursier | Press: Nathalie Gasser | Set photography: Yohanne Lamoulère
Production: Zirlib | Coproduction: Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles, Festival d'Automne à Paris, Points communs - Nouvelle scène nationale Cergy-Pontoise-Val d'Oise, La Comédie de Genève, Théâtre national de Bordeaux en Aquitaine, Théâtre national de Bretagne (Rennes), Tandem Scène nationale d’Arras-Douai, MC2: Grenoble Scène nationale, La Comédie de Clermont-Ferrand Scène nationale, Théâtre Garonne Scène européenne (Toulouse), Festival d’Avignon, Théâtre du Bois de l'Aune (Aix-en-Provence), Équinoxe Scène nationale de Châteauroux, Théâtre de la Croix-Rousse (Lyon), La Coursive Scène nationale de La Rochelle, Espace 1789 - Saint-Ouen, Théâtre de Saint-Quentin en Yvelines Scène nationale, Le Channel - Scène nationale de Calais
Residencies: Le Mucem - Marseille, CIRCA La Chartreuse
Zirlib is supported by the Ministère de la Culture - DRAC Centre-Val de Loire, by the Région Centre-Val de Loire and by the Ville d'Orléans
Mohamed El Khatib is an associate artist of Théâtre de la Ville in Paris, Théâtre National de Bretagne in Rennes and Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles
Performances in Brussels with the support of the French Embassy in Belgium and the Institut français Paris as part of EXTRA, a program that supports French contemporary creation in Belgium
