28.05 — 01.06
Mohamed El Khatib Orléans
La vie secrète des vieux
theatre — premiere
| French → NL, EN | ⧖ ±1h10 | €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, Georges MacBriar, Marie-Louise Carlier, Martine Devries, Jacqueline Juin, Jean-Paul Sidolle, Yasmine Hadj Ali | Project manager: Camille Nauffray | Artistic collaboration: Mathilde Chadeau | Scenography and artistic collaboration: Fred Hocké | Video: Emmanuel Manzano | Interviews: Vanessa Larré, Vassia Chavaroche, Marie Desgranges | Occupational therapists: Virginie Tanda, Clotilde Rogez | Sound: Arnaud Léger | Technical manager: Jonathan Douchet | Production managers: Gil Paon, Sylvia Courty | Administration: Cécile Boursier | Press: Nathalie Gasser
Production: Zirlib | Coproduction: Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles, Théâtre de la Ville, Théâtre National de Bretagne - Rennes, Points Communs – Scène nationale Cergy Val d’Oise, La Coursive – Scène nationale de La Rochelle, La Comédie de Clermont Ferrand – Scène nationale, Tandem – Scène nationale Arras-Douai, Espace 1789 – Saint-Ouen, Théâtre Garonne – Toulouse, Théâtre du Bois de l’Aune – Aix-en-Provence, Théâtre de Saint Quentin en Yvelines – Scène nationale, Equinoxe – Scène nationale de Châteauroux, Théâtre de la Croix Rousse – Lyon
Residencies: Mucem - Marseille, Le Channel – Scène nationale de Calais
Performance 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
