Les Enfants terribles

Les Enfants terribles by Jean Cocteau, a romantic masterpiece of a generation between the wars in Paris, left the acid memory of the colours of Paul and his sister Élisabeth’s bedroom, overtaken by games of desire. This timeless tableau of adolescence, as poisonous as it is dreamy, with saturated romanticism in a form of flamboyant camera, still dazzles.

Rather than opting for a literal adaptation of the novel, Phia Ménard chooses to focus on the lyrical reading of it by Philip Glass in his Opera for 4 voices and three pianos. And more contemporary, it now sheds light on history in the light of aging and degenerative diseases, by establishing a parallel between adolescent and aging bodies, each as isolated and at odds with society as the other.

Attached to the movement that invigorates Philip Glass’s piece, she imagines a revolving stage device and symbolic appearances that give the show its singular rhythm, in an intermingling of song, music, text and dance, at a fast tempo. As for Emmanuel Olivier, the musical director, he magnifies the tragic beauty of Philip Glass’s opera, as well as its immersive dimension.

Première belge
Coproduction Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles
Corealisation Kaaitheater, Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles

With the support of the French Embassy in Belgium
In the scope of EXTRA, a programme to support French contemporary creation.