music theatre after the book “The Hatred of music” by Pascal Quignard
[original French title : EARS HAVE NO LIDS AS IT HAPPENS]
CREATION on 7 October, 2014 – Le Phénix, scène nationale of Valenciennes (France)
with actor Pierre Baux and four musicians from the Tana string quartet : Antoine Maisonhaute, Pieter Jansen, Maxime Désert, Jeanne Maisonhaute
conception, music, dramaturgy and stage direction Benjamin Dupé | text after Pascal Quignard‘s book The Hatred of music (La Haine de la musique)
stage design Olivier Thomas | lights Christophe Forey | Ircam software development Manuel Poletti | stage direction assistant Laurence Perez | sound manager Martin Antiphon | costumes Sabine Richaud
«
One actor and a string quartet vibrate the crossed scores of two music lovers, writer Pascal Quignard and composer Benjamin Dupé. A polyphony of writings to interrogate the “how to hear”. A treaty whose mechanic is as precise as it is playful.
Music is everywhere. In headphones, computers, supermarkets and even lifts. Has not this relentless convocation emptied it of its essence? Has not silence replaced it as the « modern vertigo »? Such is the theory explored by Pascal Quignard in La Haine de la Musique (The hatred of music). A curious literary object, between essay, meditation and confession, Benjamin Dupé freely orchestrates in a version for the stage. Using fragments, extracts which he makes collide with his own composition. For it is not about illustrating the text by a few music notes, but using music as a whole partner. The show results of their agreement and disagreement, their friction leads to the possibility of another listening. To the author’s hypothesis of disenchantment, Benjamin Dupé gives the only possible answer for a composer : make sound, that is move the audience in their inner selves. For, “as it happens, ears have no lids”, that’s the truth.
»
Production: Comme je l’entends, les productions | Coproduction of the prelude: SACD / Festival d’Avignon (Sujets à Vif), support : CENTQUATRE-PARIS |Coproduction: Le Phénix scène nationale de Valenciennes, l’Ircam-Centre Pompidou, La Passerelle scène nationale de Gap, Le Merlan scène nationale à Marseille | Supports: Direction Régionale des Affaires Culturelles Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur, Région Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur – Aide à la création, Conseil Général des Bouches-du-Rhône, Ville de Marseille, Adami, Spedidam, Sacem.
© Agnès Mellon
photos © Agnès Mellon