Encyclopédie de la parole

In 2013, the Encyclopédie de la parole initiated a cycle of four "Choral Suites" all based on the same principle: the live reproduction of audio-documents taken from the Encyclopédie de la parole's collection. As with Suite N°1 and Suite N° 2, these speeches are faithfully re-enacted by two performers in order to render their oral dimension and all their melodic, rhythmic, intensive and timbral nuances. Re-enacting them is a way to make their reality audible whilst transposing them into the fictional setting of a theatre.

However, this time the Encyclopédie de la parole has decided to add an explicitly musical dimension to them: Joris Lacoste has proposed to Pierre-Yves Macé to compose for each of these words a specific piano accompaniment which makes each sound like folk songs, opera recitatives, French melodies, German lieder, Portuguese fados, pop hits or contemporary experimental pieces creating a polyglot spoken opera for two singers (Bianca Iannuzzi and Laurent Deleuil) and a pianist (Denis Chouillet).

At times, the piano implicitly reveals an surprising tune; at other times it highlights the melody or the rhythmic cadence of the words. Sometimes it imposes a disconcerting tone or even cuts loose from its accompanying function to become a competing voice. In all cases, it shifts the act of listening towards an unexpected and paradoxical place, even more so because of the nature of those speeches. They were collected across the European Union through to a network of local correspondants and were chosen both for their melodic qualities and the ambivalence of their content. They are indeed spoken words that, for various reasons and to varying degrees, we are reluctant to listen to.

Condescending sermons, safety instructions, embarrassing claims, verbal abuse, monologues of solitude, police brutality, hate speeches, pro-conspiracy rambles, standardized job interviews, personal-development coaching, public humiliation, adolescent moaning... In our daily lives, we are overwhelmed by utterances, that embarrass us, disgust us, bother us, make us angry, depress us, shock us, embarrass us, annoy us, or make us feel sorry for their issuers. What do we do with them? What strategies do we adopt to keep them at a distance? Can music allow us to neutralise them, to laugh at them, to momentarily ward off their violence or to shift and deepen the way we consider them? Can art free ourselves from the influence and the venom of forked tongues?

Conception Encyclopédie de la parole

Dramaturgy and stage direction Joris Lacoste

Music creation Pierre-Yves Macé

Cast Bianca Iannuzzi (soprano), Laurent Deleuil(baritone) and Denis Chouillet (piano)

Artistic collaboration Elise Simonet

Choreography Lenio Kaklea

Scenography and light design Florian Leduc

Sound Stéphane Leclercq

Technical management on tour Florian Leduc or Nicolas Bats

Costumes Ling Zhu

Singing master Vincent Leterme

Vocal coach Valérie Philippin

Staging intern Yvan Loiseau

Translation – project manager Marie Trincaretto

English text Julie Etienne

Languages English, French, Dutch, German, Portuguese, Hungarian, Spanish, Polish, Croatian, Danish, Maltese, Italian, Romanian, Czech, Slovak, Finnish, Bulgarian, Swedish, Greek, Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Slovenian, Flemish

Duration 1h30

Creation on October 10th 2017 at Théâtre Garonne - Scène européenne, Toulouse

Collecting coordinators Joris Lacoste, Valérie Louys, Marion Siéfert, Elise Simonet

Invited archive collectors Christa Antoniou (CY), Zsolt Boros (HU), Tamara Bracic Vidmar (SL), Rita Bukauskaite (LIT), Ida Daniel (BUL), Milena Ilieva (BUL), Pierre Daubigny (POL), Ania Szczepanska (POL), Glen Falzon (MT), Antoine Cassar (MT), Nicole Genovese (FIN), Kim Jeitz (LU), Genevieve Leyh (ENG), Lenka Luptakova (SK), Shane Mansfield (GLA), Barbara Matijevic (HR), Sabine Macher (DE), Nicolas Melard (AT), Olivier Van Nooten (NL), Daniel Naami (NL), Federico Paino (IT), Ruta Pakalne (LV), Alise Bokaldere (LV), Birgit Peeters (BE), Tomás Pereira Ginet-Jaquemet (ES), Sergiu Popescu (RO), David Roenner (SE), Brigitte Schima (AT), Soren Stecher-Rasmussen (DK), Maia Means (DK) et Sotiris Vasiliu (GR)

Thanks to Sarah Becher (DE), Nikola Bencova (CZ), Isabel Calvo (ES), David-Alexandre Guéniot (PT), Patricia Almeida (PT), Anneke Lacoste (NL), Nuno Lucas (PT), Marie Pullerits (EST), Raquel Rodrigues da Costa Gomes de Sousa (PT)

Partners for collecting workshops Teatro Municipal do Porto, Baltoscandal Festival (Rakvere)

Language coaches Kim Andringa, Zsolt Boros, Rita Bukauskaite, Pierre Daubigny, Astrid De Graef, Nicole Genovese, Hanna Hedman, Milena Ilieva, Lénio Kaklea, Nuno Lucas, Christa Antoniou, Barbara Matijevic, Nele Suisalu, Bara Prochaskova, Sergiu Popescu, Kristine Borodina, Sarka Vancurova, Gabrielle Sargent, Ania Szczepanska Judyta Steffek and Alexander Nielsen

Production and administration Edwige Dousset assisted by Justine Noirot

Distribution & tour management Garance Crouillère 

Production Echelle 1:1 (company subsidized by the Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication / DRAC Île-de-France, by the Conseil régional d'Île-de-France and by the Institut Français de Paris for its tours abroad) in partnership with Ligne Directe /Judith Martin & Marie Tommasini

Coproduction Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Brussels), Théâtre de la Ville - Paris, Festival d’Automne à Paris, La Comédie de Reims - CDN / Festival Reims Scènes d’Europe, São Luiz Teatro Municipal / Festival Alkantara (Lisbon), festival NEXT / Le phénix scène nationale Valenciennes pôle européen de création, Théâtre Garonne - Scène européenne (Toulouse), Festival Baltoscandal (Rakvere), Gothenburg Dance and Theatre Festival, L’apostrophe, scène nationale de Cergy-Pontoise et du Val d’Oise, Mousonturm (Frankfurt)   

With the help of the French Institute in Paris, Ville de Saint-Denis - Conservatoire de musique et de danse, Nanterre-Amandiers - Centre dramatique national and CN D Centre national de la danse, accueil en résidence

Suite n°3 is co-produced with the support of House On Fire and NXTSTP and European Union’s Cultural Programme

Administration, production & distribution Edwige Dousset - +33 (0)6 13 43 11 29  - administration@echelle1-1.org