Ariane Mnouchkine
Director Ariane Mnouchkine is acclaimed as a major figure in French contemporary theater. In 1959, she established the Association théâtrale des étudiants de Paris, within which she directed her first productions, and in 1964, she founded the Théâtre du Soleil. Without a permanent space in which to perform, the company presented La Cuisine (The Kitchen, 1967) at the Montmartre circus. The play was a huge success, drawing 63,400 spectators and sparking interest in fair-style theater. In 1970, Mnouchkine transformed La Cartoucherie, an abandoned property in Paris, into one of France’s most popular theaters. Here she staged the play 1789, which brought world recognition to the Soleil. Mnouchkine has also directed and written screenplays for multiple films.
Early Life and Career
Ariane Mnouchkine was born on March 3, 1939, in Boulogne-sur-Seine, into an environment in which film was omnipresent, since her Russian father, Alexandre Mnouchkine (1903–1993), who immigrated to France after the Russian Revolution, was a well-known film producer. She studied psychology at the Sorbonne in Paris. In 1959 she established the ATEP (Association théâtrale des étudiants de Paris), which was presided over by Roger Planchon (b. 1930) and within which she directed her first productions, notably Gengis Khan (1961). On numerous trips to Asia she discovered artistic practices and styles that affected her conception of theater, as did the months she later spent with Jacques Lecoq.
Fair-Style Theater and Mainstream Success
In 1964 Mnouchkine founded the Théâtre du Soleil, gathering together university friends, none of whom at the time was a theater professional. The group’s activity was based on collective work by which it sought to create theater with a global outlook. The beginnings of the company, based on a cooperative model, were modest but noteworthy and included the productions of Gorki’s Les petits-bourgeois (The Petty Bourgeois, 1964) and an adaptation of Théophile Gautier’s Capitaine Fracasse (Captain Fracasse, 1965).
Without a permanent space in which to perform, the company presented Arnold Wesker’s La Cuisine (The Kitchen, 1967) at the Montmartre circus (Médrano). The play was a huge success, drawing 63,400 spectators. Overnight, the public, entranced by the staging and direction, discovered a new way of creating theater. Ensuing productions confirmed the novelty of approach. The interest in fair-style theater and the desire to establish a new relationship with the public were reaffirmed in Mnouchkine’s productions of Shakespeare’s Le songe d’une nuit d’été (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, 1968) and especially in Les Clowns (The Clowns, 1969), which stressed its ties to popular theater.
The year 1970 saw the installation of the Compagnie at the Cartoucherie, in Vincennes (Paris), an abandoned property that Mnouchkine transformed into a space for creation. Here she staged the presentation of 1789, an important production for Théâtre du Soleil, which was first presented in Milan and remounted in Paris. 1789 brought world recognition to the Soleil, due both to its aesthetic form and to the political agenda that emanated from this improvisational work. Similar rereading of contemporary history continued with the production of 1793 (1972), which explored the consequences of the French revolution, and in L’Âge d’Or (The Age of Gold, 1975) which used Commedia Dell’Arte and storytelling to present a look at the reality of immigration in France. Ironically, although the productions at the Théâtre du Soleil constituted a radical departure from all the institutional forms of theater that dominate the French stage, La Cartoucherie became one of France’s most popular theaters.
Text-Based Theater and Later Works
The adaptation of Klaus Mann’s novel Méphisto (1979) marked a turning point in the Soleil’s trajectory. The Compagnie abandoned collective creation and returned to text-based theater. Out of a desire to “investigate” Shakespeare, Mnouchkine ambitiously set out to direct twelve of his plays. She ended up directing three: Richard II (1981), La Nuit des Rois (Twelfth Night, 1982), and Henri IV, première partie (Henry IV, Part I, 1984). These productions displayed the grandeur of an eastern-influenced aesthetic, drawing inspiration from both kabuki and kathakali and demanding a mastery of the body dictated by Shakespeare’s texts. The cycle drew 253,000 spectators.
With L’Histoire terrible mais inachevée de Norodom Sihanouk, roi du Cambodge (The terrible but unfinished story of Norodom Sihanouk, King of Cambodia, 1995), Ariane Mnouchkine began a cycle of staging contemporary texts written specifically for the Compagnie by Hélène Cixous. These works reaffirm Mnouchkine’s political vision of theater and her stance regarding certain contemporary events. History and theatricality unite in her L’Indiade, ou l’Inde de leurs rêves (The Indiade, or the India of their dreams, 1988), a work that confirmed Hélène Cixous’s role as the group’s official playwright.
The plays that followed brought together tragedy and epic theater. With Les Atrides (The House of Atreus, 1990–1993), Mnouchkine began a new cycle based on the Greek model and presenting a return to the ancient roots of theater. The Compagnie embarked on this trilogy out of a conviction that a true proximity exists between the world of the Greeks and that of today despite the geographical and temporal distances that separate them. The ancient tragedy is followed by a contemporary one, that of the catastrophe of the tainted blood supply in La Ville parjure ou Le Réveil des Érynies (The Forsworn City, or the Awakening of the Furies, 1994). An aesthetic approach and a profoundly political consciousness combined even more intensely in Tartuffe (1995), a production in which the Théâtre du Soleil questioned religious fundamentalism, which was presented at the Avignon Festival. In her later creations, Et soudain des nuits d’éveil (And suddenly, nights of awakening, 1997) and especially in Tambours sur la digue (Drums at the dike, 2000), the Théâtre du Soleil renewed its ties with the narration of popular tales, enhanced by a formalism inspired by Bunraku (Japanese puppet theater).
Theatricality, inspiration drawn from eastern styles, and a stance with regard to contemporary history are all constants in an aesthetic that is based on the actor’s work, an aesthetic that is in perpetual quest for the very foundations of theater. In 2003, the Company presented Le Dernier Caravanserail (Odyssées) (The Last Caravansery [Odysseus]).
Perceived and acclaimed as a major figure in French contemporary theater, Ariane Mnouchkine incarnates aesthetic originality and the continuous quest for quintessential theater.
THÉÂTRE DU SOLEIL: A CHRONOLOGY
1959 October 27: Creation of the Association théâtrale des étudiants de Paris (ATEP), by Ariane Mnouchkine and Martine Franck.
June 23: Gengis Khan, by Henry Bauchau, directed by Ariane Mnouchkine, costumes by Françoise Tournafond.
Arènes de Lutèce.
1964 May 29: The Théâtre du Soleil company (Société Coopérative Ouvrière de Production) is founded by Ariane Mnouchkine and a group of nine artists from various university theaters: Georges Donzenac, Myrrha Donzenac, Martine Franck, Gérard Hardy, Philippe Léotard, Roberto Moscoso, Jean-Claude Penchenat, Jean-Pierre Tailhade et Françoise Tournafond.
1964–1965 Les Petits bourgeois, by Maxime Gorki, translation and adaptation by Arthur Adamov, directed by Ariane Mnouchkine, music by Roger Tessier, designed and costumes by Roberto Moscoso.
M. J. C. de la Porte de Montreuil, then at the Théâtre Mouffetard.
2900 spectators.
1965–1966 Capitaine Fracasse, after Théophile Gautier, adaptation by Philippe Léotard, directed by Ariane Mnouchkine, designed by Roberto Moscoso, costumes by Françoise Tournafond.
Théâtre Récamier. 4000 spectators.
1967 April 5: La Cuisine, by Arnold Wesker, translation and adaptation by Philippe Léotard, directed by Ariane Mnouchkine, designed by Roberto Moscoso.
Cirque Médrano in Montmartre. 63,400 spectators.
1968 Le Songe d’une nuit d'été, by William Shakespeare, adaptation by Philippe Léotard, directed by Ariane Mnouchkine, music by Jacques Lasry, designed by Roberto Moscoso, costumes by Françoise Tournafond.
Cirque Médrano in Montmartre. 47,000 spectators.
1969–1970 April 25: Les Clowns, collective creation by the Théâtre du Soleil, directed by Ariane Mnouchkine, music by Teddy Lasry, designed by Roberto Moscoso, costumes by Christiane Candries.
Théâtre de la Commune of Aubervilliers, then at the Festival d'Avignon, at the Piccolo Teatro di Milano and at l'Élysée Montmartre. 40,000 spectators.
1970 August 24: Arrival at the Cartoucherie de Vincennes, Paris.
1970–1971 November 12: 1789: La révolution doit s’arrêter à la perfection du bonheur, collective creation by the Théâtre du Soleil, directed by Ariane Mnouchkine, designed by Roberto Moscoso, costumes by Françoise Tournafond and Christiane Candries, marionnettes by Nicole Princet, director’s assistant: Sophie Lemasson. Created by invitation of the Piccolo Teatro di Milano. Restaged at the Cartoucherie.
Tour: Martinique, Lausanne, Berlin, London, Belgrade. 281,370 spectators.
1972–1973 May 12: 1793: La cité révolutionnaire est de ce monde, collective creation by the Théâtre du Soleil, directed by Ariane Mnouchkine, designed by Roberto Moscoso, costumes by Françoise Tournafond, director’s assistant: Sophie Lemasson.
Cartoucherie.
November 15, 1972: remount of 1789, in repertory with 1793, at the Cartoucherie until March 1973. 102,100 spectators.
1974 1789, film adaptation of the play by the Théâtre du Soleil.
Directed by Ariane Mnouchkine, designed by Roberto Moscoso, costumes by Françoise Tournafond and Christiane Candries, marionnettes by Nicole Princet, director’s assistant: Sophie Lemasson. Images by Bernard Zitzermann. Produced by Films Ariane.
1975–1976 March 4: L’Âge d’or, première ébauche, collective creation by the Théâtre du Soleil, directed by Ariane Mnouchkine, designed by Guy-Claude François, costumes by Françoise Tournafond, Jean-Claude Barriera and Nathalie Ferreira, masks by Erhard Stiefel, director’s assistant: Sophie Lemasson.
Cartoucherie. 96,080 spectators.
Tour: Warsaw, Venice, Louvain-la-Neuve, Milan.
136,000 spectators.
1976–1977 Molière, film written and directed by Ariane Mnouchkine with the Théâtre du Soleil. Designed by Guy-Claude François, costumes by Daniel Ogier, photography by Bernard Zitzermann, original music by René Clémencic. Produced by Les Films du Soleil et de la Nuit.
1979–1980 May 4: Méphisto, le roman d'une carrière, after the novel by Klaus Mann.
Adapted and directed by Ariane Mnouchkine, designed by Guy-Claude François, costumes by Nani Noël and Daniel Ogier, music by Jean-Jacques Lemêtre, masks by Erhard Stiefel, director’s assistant: Sophie Moscoso.
In collaboration with the Atelier Théâtral of Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium).
Cartoucherie. Tour: Festival d'Avignon, Atelier Théâtral of Louvain-la-Neuve, Lyon, Rome, Berlin, Munich, Lons-le-Saunier. 160 000 spectators.
Video of the performance by Bernard Sobel.
1981–1984 «Les Shakespeare» Cycle.
Translated and directed by Ariane Mnouchkine, designed by Guy-Claude François, masks by Erhard Stiefel, costumes by Jean-Claude Barriera and Nathalie Thomas, music by Jean-Jacques Lemêtre, choreography by Maïtreyi, director’s assistant: Sophie Moscoso.
December 10, 1981: Richard II at the Cartoucherie.
July 10, 1982: La Nuit des rois at the Festival d'Avignon.
Performed in repertory at the Cartoucherie.
January 18, 1984: Henry IV, première partie at the Cartoucherie.
Performed in repertory with the other two plays.
Tour «Les Shakespeare»: Festival of Munich, Los Angeles
(Olympic Arts Festival), Festival d'Avignon, Berlin (Berliner Festpiele).
«Les Shakespeare» Cycle: 253,000 spectators.
1985–1986 September 11: L'Histoire terrible mais inachevée de Norodom Sihanouk, roi du Cambodge, by Hélène Cixous, directed by Ariane Mnouchkine, music by Jean-Jacques Lemêtre, designed by Guy-Claude François, costumes by Jean-Claude Barriera and Nathalie Thomas, figurines and masks by Erhard Stiefel, director’s assistant: Sophie Moscoso.
Cartoucherie. Tour 1986: Amsterdam (Holland Festival), Brussels, Madrid, Barcelona. 108,445 spectators.
1986 À la Recherche du Soleil, film by Werner Schroeter, documentary on the Théâtre du Soleil during the performance of L'Histoire terrible mais inachevée de Norodom Sihanouk, roi du Cambodge. Produced by Regina Ziegler Filmproduktion (Berlin).
1987 Ariane Mnouchkine and the Théâtre du Soleil awarded the first Premio Europa per il Teatro in Taormina, Sicily.
1987–1988 September 30: L'Indiade ou l'Inde de leurs rêves, by Hélène Cixous, directed by Ariane Mnouchkine, music by Jean-Jacques Lemêtre, designed by Guy-Claude François, costumes by Jean-Claude Barriera and Nathalie Thomas, masks by Erhard Stiefel, director’s assistant: Sophie Moscoso.
Cartoucherie. Tour: Jerusalem Festival. 89,000 spectators.
Video of the performance by Bernard Sobel.
1989 La Nuit miraculeuse. Film commissioned by the Assemblée Nationale on the bicentenary of the Declaration of Human Rights. Directed by Ariane Mnouchkine, scenario by Ariane Mnouchkine and Hélène Cixous, dialogues by Hélène Cixous, music by Jean-Jacques Lemêtre, designed by Guy-Claude François and Thierry François, dolls by Erhard Stiefel, costumes by Nathalie Thomas and Marie-Hélène Bouvet, director’s assistants: Sophie Moscoso and Alain Baudy, images by Bernard Zitzermann. Produced by the Théâtre du Soleil.
1990–1993 «Les Atrides» Cycle.
Directed by Ariane Mnouchkine, music by Jean-Jacques Lemêtre, designed by Guy-Claude François, sculptures by Erhard Stiefel, costumes by Nathalie Thomas and Marie-Hélène Bouvet, choreography by Catherine Schaub, Simon Abkarian and Nirupama Nityanandan, director’s assistant: Sophie Moscoso.
November 16, 1990: Iphigénie à Aulis, by Euripides at the Cartoucherie. Translated by Jean and Mayotte Bollack.
November 24, 1990: Agamemnon, by Aeschylus at the Cartoucherie.
Translated by Ariane Mnouchkine.
February 23, 1991: Les Choéphores, by Aeschylus at the Cartoucherie.
Translated by Ariane Mnouchkine. All three plays performed in repertory.
May 26, 1992: Les Euménides, by Aeschylus at the Cartoucherie.
Translated by Hélène Cixous. All four plays performed in repertory.
Tour «Les Atrides»: Amsterdam (Holland Festival), Essen (Theater der Welt), Sicily (Orestiadi di Gibellina), Berlin (Berliner Festspiele), Lyon (T. N. P.), Toulouse (Le Sorano), Montpellier (Le Printemps des Comédiens), Bradford (European Art Festival), Montreal (Festival de théâtre des Amériques), New York (B. A. M.), Vienna (Wiener Festwochen).
«Les Atrides» Cycle: 286,700 spectators.
1994–1995 May 18: La Ville parjure ou Le Réveil des Érinyes, by Hélène Cixous, directed by Ariane Mnouchkine, music by Jean-Jacques Lemêtre, designed by Guy-Claude François, marionnettes by Erhard Stiefel, costumes by Nathalie Thomas, Marie-Hélène Bouvet and Annie Tran, director’s assistant: Sophie Moscoso. Cartoucherie.
Tour 1995: Liege (Théâtre de La Place), Recklinghausen (Ruhr Festpiele), Vienna (Wiener Festwochen), Festival d'Avignon.
51,200 spectators.
1995–1996 June 10: Le Tartuffe, by Molière, directed by Ariane Mnouchkine, music by Jean-Jacques Lemêtre, designed by Guy-Claude François, costumes by Nathalie Thomas and Marie-Hélène Bouvet.
Vienna (Austria: Wiener Festwochen).
Tour 1995: Festival d'Avignon, Saint-Jean d'Angely,
Liege (Théâtre de la Place).
October 1995: Performed at the Cartoucherie.
Tour 1996: La Rochelle, Vienne (France), Copenhagen
(Copenhagen 96), Berlin (Berliner Festpiele).
122,000 spectators.
1996–1997 Au Soleil même la nuit, film by Éric Darmon and Catherine Vilpoux with Ariane Mnouchkine. Coproduced by La Sept/ARTE, Agat Film & Cie and the Théâtre du Soleil. Filmed at the Cartoucherie during the 6 months of rehearsals of Le Tartuffe, by Molière.
1997–1998 December 26: Et soudain des nuits d'éveil, collective creation with Hélène Cixous, directed by Ariane Mnouchkine, music by Jean-Jacques Lemêtre, designed by Guy-Claude François, paintings by Danièle Heusslein-Gire, costumes by Nathalie Thomas and Marie-Hélène Bouvet.
Cartoucherie. Tour 1998: Moscow (Festival Tchekhov).
55,000 spectators.
1999 La Ville parjure ou Le Réveil des Érinyes, film after the play by Hélène Cixous, directed by Ariane Mnouchkine, music by Jean-Jacques Lemêtre, designed by Guy-Claude François, marionnettes by Erhard Stiefel, costumes by Nathalie Thomas, Marie-Hélène Bouvet and Annie Tran, director’s assistant: Sophie Moscoso. A film by Catherine Vilpoux, images by Éric Darmon. Produced by the Théâtre du Soleil/Vidéo de poche.
1999–2002 September 8: Tambours sur la digue, sous forme de pièce ancienne pour marionnettes jouée par des acteurs, by Hélène Cixous, directed by Ariane Mnouchkine, music by Jean-Jacques Lemêtre, designed by Guy-Claude François, Ysabel de Maisonneuve and Didier Martin, costumes by Nathalie Thomas, Marie-Hélène Bouvet, Ysabel de Maisonneuve and Annie Tran, director’s assistant: Charles-Henri Bradier. Cartoucherie.
Tour 2000–2002: Basel (Kaserne Basel), Anvers (DeSingel), Lyon (Les Célestins—Théâtre de Lyon), Montreal (Festival de Théâtre des Amériques), Tokyo (Tokyo New National Theater), Seoul (National Theater of Korea), Sydney (Sydney Festival).
154,000 spectators.
2002–2003 Tambours sur la digue, sous forme de pièce ancienne pour marionnettes jouée par des acteurs, film after the play by Hélène Cixous, directed and produced by Ariane Mnouchkine with the Théâtre du Soleil, music by Jean-Jacques Lemêtre, designed by Guy-Claude François, Ysabel de Maisonneuve and Didier Martin, costumes by Marie-Hélène Bouvet, Nathalie Thomas, Ysabel de Maisonneuve, Annie Tran and Elisabeth Jacques. Coproduced by the Théâtre du Soleil, Bel Air Media, ARTE France, CNDP, ZDF Theaterkanal. DVD version produced by ARTE France Développement, in 2003.
2003–2005 Le Dernier Caravansérail (Odyssées), collective creation by the Théâtre du Soleil, directed by Ariane Mnouchkine, music by Jean-Jacques Lemêtre, designed by Guy-Claude François, Serge Nicolaï and Duccio Bellugi-Vannuccini, paintings by Didier Martin and Ysabel de Maisonneuve, costumes by Marie-Hélène Bouvet, Nathalie Thomas and Annie Tran. Cartoucherie.
Tour
2004–2005 Bochum, Quimper, Lyon, Berlin. A film is in preparation.
TEXTS OF PERFORMANCES
Aeschylus L'Orestie:
Agamemnon (trans. by A. Mnouchkine). Paris: Théâtre du Soleil, 1990.
Les Choéphores (trans. by A. Mnouchkine). Paris: Théâtre du Soleil, 1992.
Les Euménides (trans. by H. Cixous). Paris: Théâtre du Soleil, 1992.
Cixous, Hélène L'Histoire terrible mais inachevée de Norodom Sihanouk, Roi du Cambodge. Paris: Théâtre du Soleil, 1985. English translation by Juliet Flower MacCannell, Judith Pike and Lollie Groth, The Terrible but Unfinished Story of Norodom Sihanouk, King of Cambodia. Lincoln and London: University of Nebraska Press, 1994.
L'Indiade ou l'Inde de leurs rêves, et quelques écrits sur le théâtre. Paris: Théâtre du Soleil, 1987.
La Ville parjure ou Le Réveil des Érinyes. Paris: Théâtre du Soleil, 1994.
Tambours sur la digue, sous forme de pièce ancienne pour marionnettes jouée par des acteurs. Paris: Théâtre du Soleil, 1999.
Euripides Iphigénie à Aulis (trans. by Jean and Mayotte Bollack). Paris: Éditions de Minuit, 1990.
Mann, Klaus Méphisto, le roman d’une carrière (adapt. by A. Mnouchkine). Paris: Solin/Théâtre du Soleil, 1979. English translation of Mnouchkine’s adaptation by Timberlake Wertenbaker, Mephisto, in Theater and Politics: an International Anthology. USA: Ubu Repertory Theater Publications, pp. 361–469, 1990.
Shakespeare, William La Nuit des rois (trans. by A. Mnouchkine). Paris: Solin/Théâtre du Soleil, 1982.
Richard II (trans. by A. Mnouchkine). Paris: Théâtre du Soleil, 1984.
Henry IV, première partie (trans. by A. Mnouchkine). Paris: Théâtre du Soleil, 1984.
Théâtre du Soleil 1789: La révolution doit s'arrêter à la perfection du bonheur. Text-program. Paris: Éditions Stock, coll. «Théâtre Ouvert», 1972. English translation by Alexandre Trocchi, 1789 (préface by Michael Kustow), in Gambit 5:20, 5–52: 1971.
1793: La cité révolutionnaire est de ce monde. Text-program. Paris: Éditions Stock, coll. «Théâtre Ouvert», 1972.
1789: La révolution doit s’arrêter à la perfection du bonheur, followed by 1793: La cité révolutionnaire est de ce monde. In L’Avant-Scène Théâtre, 526–527, October 1973.
L'Âge d'or, première ébauche. Text-program prepared by Jean-Claude Bourbault, Philippe Caubère and Catherine Legrand. Paris: Éditions Stock, coll. «Théâtre Ouvert», 1975.
1789: La révolution doit s’arrêter à la perfection du bonheur, followed by 1793: La cité révolutionnaire est de ce monde. Paris: Théâtre du Soleil, 1989.
Wesker, Arnold La Cuisine (trans. and adapt. by Philippe Léotard). In L’Avant-Scène Théâtre, #385, August 1967.
Photo Albums
Double Page:
Shakespeare 1. Photos by Martine Franck. Text by Claude Roy. Paris: Éditions SNEP, 1982.
Shakespeare 2. Photos by Martine Franck. Text by Raymonde Temkine. Paris: Éditions SNEP, 1984.
L’Indiade ou l’Inde de leurs rêves. Photos by Martine Franck. Text by Hélène Cixous. Paris: Éditions SNEP, 1987.
Les Atrides I: Iphigénie/Agamemnon
Preface by Hélène Cixous. Photos by Michèle Laurent. Paris: Théâtre du Soleil, 1992.
Les Atrides II: Les Choéphores/Les Euménides
Preface by Hélène Cixous. Photos by Michèle Laurent. Paris: Théâtre du Soleil, 1992.
Filmography
1974 1789, film based on the play by Théâtre du Soleil. Directed by Ariane Mnouchkine, designed by Roberto Moscoso, costumes by Françoise Tournafond and Christiane Candries, marionnettes by Nicole Princet, director’s assistant: Sophie Lemasson. Images by Bernard Zitzermann. Produced by Films Ariane.
1976–1977 Molière, written and directed by Ariane Mnouchkine with the Théâtre du Soleil. Designed by Guy-Claude François, costumes by Daniel Ogier, photography by Bernard Zitzermann, original music by René Clémencic. Produced by Les Films du Soleil et de la Nuit.
1979–1980 Méphisto, le roman d’une carrière, after the novel by Klaus Mann. Adapted and directed by Ariane Mnouchkine, designed by Guy-Claude François, costumes by Nani Noël and Daniel Ogier, music by Jean-Jacques Lemêtre, masks by Erhard Stiefel, director’s assistant: Sophie Moscoso.
In collaboration with the Atelier Théâtral of Louvain-la-Neuve (Belgium). Created at the Cartoucherie.
Film of the performance by Bernard Sobel.
1986 À la Recherche du Soleil, by Werner Schroeter, documentary on the Théâtre du Soleil during the performance of L'Histoire terrible mais inachevée de Norodom Sihanouk, roi du Cambodge.
1988 L'Indiade ou l'Inde de leurs rêves, by Hélène Cixous, directed by Ariane Mnouchkine, music by Jean-Jacques Lemêtre, designed by Guy-Claude François, costumes by Jean-Claude Barriera and Nathalie Thomas, masks by Erhard Stiefel, director’s assistant: Sophie Moscoso. Created at the Cartoucherie.
Film of the performance by Bernard Sobel.
1989 La Nuit miraculeuse. Commissioned by the Assemblée Nationale on the bicentenary of the Declaration of Human Rights. Directed by Ariane Mnouchkine, scenario by Ariane Mnouchkine and Hélène Cixous, dialogues by Hélène Cixous, music by Jean-Jacques Lemêtre, designed by Guy-Claude François and Thierry François, dolls by Erhard Stiefel, costumes by Nathalie Thomas and Marie-Hélène Bouvet, director’s assistants: Sophie Moscoso and Alain Boudy, images by Bernard Zitzermann. Produced by the Théâtre du Soleil.
1996–1997 Au Soleil même la nuit, film by Éric Darmon and Catherine Vilpoux with Ariane Mnouchkine. Coproduced by la Sept/ARTE, Agat Film & Cie and the Théâtre du Soleil. Filmed at the Cartoucherie during the 6 months of rehearsals of Le Tartuffe, by Molière.
1999 La Ville parjure ou Le Réveil des Érinyes, after the play by Hélène Cixous, directed by Ariane Mnouchkine, music by Jean-Jacques Lemêtre, designed by Guy-Claude François, marionnettes by Erhard Stiefel, costumes by Nathalie Thomas, Marie-Hélène Bouvet and Annie Tran, director’s assistant: Sophie Moscoso. A film by Catherine Vilpoux, images by Éric Darmon. Produced by the Théâtre du Soleil/Vidéo de poche.
2002–2003 Tambours sur la digue, sous forme de pièce ancienne pour marionnettes jouée par des acteurs, after the play by Hélène Cixous, directed and produced by Ariane Mnouchkine with the Théâtre du Soleil, music by Jean-Jacques Lemêtre, designed by Guy-Claude François, Ysabel de Maisonneuve and Didier Martin, costumes by Marie-Hélène Bouvet, Nathalie Thomas, Ysabel de Maisonneuve, Annie Tran and Elisabeth Jacques. Coproduced by the Théâtre du Soleil, Bel Air Media, ARTE France, CNDP, ZDF Theaterkanal. DVD version produced by ARTE France Développement, in 2003.
2004 Molière, DVD. Written and directed by Ariane Mnouchkine, designed by Guy-Claude François, costumes by Daniel Ogier, images by Bernard Zitzermann, original music by René Clémencic. Coproduced by Les Films du Soleil et de la Nuit, Claude Lelouch Films 13, Antenne 2 and the RAI. DVD version coedited by BEL AIR Classiques and Scérén-CNDP.
Pedagogical Material about the Théâtre du Soleil
Arnault, Jean-Jacques, and Lallias, Jean-Claude (eds.). La tragédie grecque: Les Atrides au Théâtre du Soleil. Paris: CNDP (booklet and slides), coll. «Théâtre aujourd’hui no 1», 1992; Bablet, Denis and Louise. Le Théâtre du Soleil, ou la quête du bonheur (Diapolivre 1). Ivry, Paris: CNRS (booklet, sound disc and slides), coll. «Théâtre du vingtième siècle», 1979; Dusigne, Jean-François. Le Théâtre du Soleil, des traditions orientales à la modernité occidentale. Paris: SCÉRÉN-CNDP, 2003.
Collective. «Thé'tre du Soleil». Fruits 2–3. Paris: 1984.
Idem. «Différent: le Thé'tre du Soleil/textes et entretiens». Supplement of Travail Thé'tral, Lausanne: 1976.
Féral, Josette, ed. Ariane Mnouchkine und das Thé'tre du Soleil. Berlin: 2002.
Idem., ed. Trajectoires du soleil: autour d'Ariane Mnouchkine. Paris: 1998.
Idem., ed. Dresser un monument à l'éphémère: rencontres avec Ariane Mnouchkine. Paris: 1995.
Kiernander, Adrian. Ariane Mnouchkine and the Thé'tre du Soleil. New York: 1993.
Labrouche, Laurence. Ariane Mnouchkine: un parcours thé'tral: le terrassier, l'enfant et le voyageur. Paris: 1999.
Mulat, Brigitte. Le Thé'tre du Soleil. Cannes: 1992.
Neuschäfer, Anne. Das Thé'tre du Soleil: commedia dell’arte und création collective. Rheinfelden: 1983.
Idem., Frederick Serror, and J. M. Armand. Thé'tre du Soleil; Shakespeare: Richard II./Heinrich IV./Was Ihr wolt. Köln: 1984.
Quillet, Françoise. L'Orient au Thé'tre du Soleil. Paris. Montreal: 1999.
Spataro, Giuseppe. Ideologia e prassi in Ariane Mnouchkine ed il Thé'tre du Soleil. Genova: 1987.
Seym, Simone. Das Thé'tre du Soleil: Ariane Mnouchkines Ästhetik des Theaters. Stuttgart: 1992.
Williams, David, ed. Collaborative theater: The Thé'tre du Soleil sourcebook (Trans. by Eric Prenowitz and David Williams). New York: 1999. See also http://www.lebacausoleil.com.
