Sex on the stage, a new theatrical approach?
Le Monde.fr | Cristina Marino | Staged sex
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Le Monde interactif - Theatre: sex on stage

 

Le Monde.fr

 

Theatre: sex on stage

LE MONDE.FR / 07.06.01 / 116h05

Two plays playing in Paris in June raise the question of how sex, often in its rawest form, is represented on stage. These are the French adaptation of a play by British playwright Mark Ravenhill, Shopping and Fuckingdirected by Thierry Harcourt at the Pépinière-Opéra and the creation by Frenchman David Noir at the Petit Espace Pierre Cardin, Les Justes Storywith the company La vie est courte.

 

Last-minute information: in an e-mail sent to the editors of various newspapers, David Noir has informed the press of Pierre Cardin's decision to withdraw the new creation by the Puritains troupe from the Petit Espace programme on Tuesday 12 June 2001, a week after the premiere, Les Justes Story.

 

"Forbidden for under 16s", "strictly forbidden for under 18s" - these are words we're used to seeing on the posters of certain films that may "offend the sensibilities of a young audience". Now they are making their appearance - rather discreetly for the moment - on the posters of some plays. Plays that are not hidden away in the back room of a small local theatre, but are emblazoned on the façades of two private Parisian theatres: the Pépinière-Opéra and the Petit Espace Pierre Cardin. These are plays that do not shy away from showing the body in all its intricacies, or even performing the sexual act on stage. So is sex on stage a new approach to theatre?

For the authors and directors of these plays, the tone is clearly one of loudly asserting a desire to shock and transgress the conventions of traditional theatre.
(...) Author and director David Noir makes his intentions clear from the outset: "The inspiration for this show is highly topical, drawing on the teenage world of fantasy TV shows, erotic comics and video games.(...) Between playful-cynical compromise and cultural debates, the form of "Les Justes" voluntarily/compliantly fits into the consensual mediocrity of our society against the backdrop of a radio and television programme. In the same spirit as his previous creation, The PuritansThe show was presented at the Lavoir Moderne Parisien in July and September 2000. The aim is to "rediscover the free and dynamic expression of his art, which today lags far behind the inventions of the visual arts, the progress of contemporary music and the invention of new technological media".

As far as the public is concerned, these plays often provoke violent and very clear-cut reactions.
In two words: either you love it or you hate it. There's no room for half measures when it comes to such shows. Some praise the taste for provocation at all costs, the exhibitionism clearly on display - others, for the way it's done - others, for the way it's done. "an unfulfilled desire for many spectators".According to David Noir, the pagan and pleasurable indecency of these texts. Others see them as a source of disgust and disgustment, while denouncing their overtly pornographic dimension.

So, is this a gratuitous and sterile attempt to shock or a salutary electroshock against the routine of current theatrical creation? Perhaps both. It's probably still too early to talk about a real artistic trend and the emergence of a new contemporary theatre under the banner of sex. In the current context, marked by the desire to hide nothing of the body's intimacy, even in its crudest form, we may simply be witnessing a passing fad.

 

Cristina Marino

Les Justes Story. Text, soundtrack, slides and design: David Noir. Original music: Jérôme Coulomb. Vocals: Any Tournayre. With Sonia Codhant, Jérôme Coulomb, Stéphane Desvignes, Jean-Hugues Laleu, Jacques Meystre, David Noir, Jean-François Rey, Miguel-Ange Sarmiento, Philippe Savoir. Produced by La vie est courte. Le Petit Espace Pierre Cardin. 3, avenue Gabriel, 75008 Paris. Metro: Concorde. Tel: 01-44-56-00-13. From 5 to 29 June 2001. Tuesday to Saturday at 8.30pm.

David Noir

David Noir, performer, actor, author, director, singer, visual artist, video maker, sound designer, teacher... carries his polymorphous nudity and his costumed childhood under the eyes and ears of anyone who wants to see and hear.

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