Birds on a Wire
Rosemary Standley / Dom La Nena
1 — 5 oct. 2025
Salle Renaud-Barrault Durée 1h30
Birds on a Wire, created by Rosemary Standley and Dom La Nena, is an enchanting soundscape with magical effects by Simon Maurice. Singing and playing their way through an eclectic repertoire, they meander down memory lane in their magical world: invoking many of the great singers and musicians of the past and present. La Nena is a consummate cellist, creating indelible compositions on her violoncello. What sets her apart is: the playback loops that she creates on her violoncello, and which she uses as grounds for their musical and vocal duos. Standley sets the vocal mood recalling: Tom Waits, Barbara, Bob Dylan, Jacques Brel or even The Cure, soaring through a baroque or Brazilian repertoire with an eloquent facility, warbling with a Down Home, Country, and Western Brazilian nasal vocal sound. All and all a must see and hear with the able assistance and backing of: Scenography and artistic complicity Étienne Saglio Dramaturgy Olivia Burton Set design Benjamin Gabrié Simon Maurice Magic Effects Lighting design Anne Muller and Alexandre Dujardin Sound design and sound design Anne Laurin Régie lumière Sarah Eger Stage manager Arnaud Bréhault Stage manager Marie Cherprenet Boisteau PKO
LIEU - Théâtre du Rond-Point
Review by: Patrick Kevin O'Hara
Date line: Wednesday the 1st of Octobre, 2025
Vaslav
Olivier Normand
16 sept. — 4 oct. 2025
Salle Roland Topor Les dates Durée 1h
Acheter
Olivier Normand, aka Vaslav de Folleterre, quipped that he never felt so masculine and virile as when he was adorned in his feminine garb! To see him is to believe him, and in his performance at the Théâtre du Rond Point he is definitely masculine and virile! Despite his feminine attire he is worthy of a chapter in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, for he is as he feels, entirely masculine and virile. This oxymoron allows him to transcend mere camp parodies of feminine behaviors to touch on human nature and emotions with his performance. By using his vast vocal range: touching Monteverdi to Damia, from Caetano Veloso to Nirvana, from Bob Marley to Brigitte Fontaine, he titillates and transfixes the audience with a never-ending cascade of emulated stars in his repertoire. Accompanying himself on a Shruti box, an Indian musical instrument, Vaslav flashes from one emotion to another always keeping a precious balance between camp and profound, cutting through invisible barriers to touch on eternal truths binding us all to common human realities of identities and dreams, evoking a dreamscape of enchanting mysteries. Bravos and bravas to: Sound Pablo Da Silva, Lighting and artistic collaboration Vincent Brunol, Dramaturgical perspective Anne Lenglet, and Hanna Sjödin Dress! A must see! PKO
Date line: Wednesday the 17th of Septembre, 2025
GILDAA
Camille Constantin Da Silva
Théâtre du Rond-Point
14 - 16 mai 2025, 20h
Salle Roland Topor Durée estimée 1h20
GILDAA is chef d’oeuvre by, a very talented creatrice, Camille Constantin Da Silva. Presented recently at the Théâtre du Rond-Point in Paris, she unveiled a multiplicity of inner and outer persona with consummate artistry. Complemented by: Mathias Durand (guitar and bass) and Zé Luis Do Nascimento (percussion), she transforms herself, via song, dance, and magical stagecraft, from a frumpish drab to a Brazilian sex bomb. Da Silva, who has no need of self-deprecation or concealment, reveals, towards the end of an absolutely fascinating performance, the true Gildaa to be an enchanting musician and charming singer, blessed with an impressive range, which she uses: from soft little girl murmuring to bawdy full throated audience shaking vocals; to enthrall and bewitch all who may have the chance to enjoy her performance. A must see! PKO Writing, composition, artistic direction Camille CONSTANTIN DA SILVA With GILDAA, Mathias Durand (guitar and bass), Zé Luis Do Nascimento (percussion) Artistic collaboration Edouard Penaud and Yndi Da Silva Sound Joachim Cairaschi Lighting Valentin Paul
Date line: Friday the 16th of May 2025
Les Vies authentiques de Phinéas Gage
Marie Piemontese , Florent Trochel
15 - 25 mai 2025
Salle Jean Tardieu du mardi au vendredi, 19h30 - samedi, 18h30 - dimanche, 15h30 Relâche : lundi 19 mai Durée estimée 1h30
The True Lives of Phineas Gage
The Théâtre du Rond-Point presented, on May the 15th, 2025, The True Lives of Phineas Gage, a play based on a true historical event, by Marie Piemontese and Florent Trochel. Quasi documentary, the play examines, in phycological esoteric terms, the fate of Phineas Gage: a foreman on a North American railroad site, who, on the 13th of September 1848, was seriously injured, while tamping explosive powder in a rock formation to advance the passage of the rails. The resulting explosion sent his tamping iron through the left side of his jaw and scull, effectuating a successful frontal lobotomy. The cast: Éric Feldman (Him), Shams El Karoui (The One Who Is Like a Sister), Philippe Frécon (The Other), Yohanna Fuchs (The Presence That Emerged from the Accident) and the voice of William Stoppa (The voice of the famous Barnum), try gallantly to breath theatrical life into the play. Unfortunately, the play does not achieve a successful liftoff to the stated objectives: of an intimate epic, a fable about reconstruction and freedom. The Phineas Gage saga deserves an action-packed drama, with characters real to the true-life events. The psychodrama that is presented drifts off to an ethereal wonderland without ever really dealing with the real effects on world medical history and the dramatic tragedies of the subsequent practices: of lobotomies practiced on a massive scale to which there has never been an adequate apology. PKO
Date line: Thursday the 15th of May 2025
Louise
Martin Zimmermann
Salle Renaud-Barrault
du mardi au vendredi, 20h30 - samedi, 19h30 Relâche : les 18 et 19 mai Durée 1h15
louise_by_admill_kuyler
Louise, a multi-faceted tribute to the artist Louise Bourgeois by Martin Zimmermann, opened at the Théâtre du Rond-Point to a mixed reception by a public amused and bemused. The fact that Louise was co-created and interpreted by Zimmermann and his cast of four: Bérengère Bodin, Methinee Wongtrakoon, Marianna De Sanctis, and Rosalba Torres Guerrero, gave the creation its strengths and weaknesses. The cast members were all fantastic! Strong versatile technics bolstered by impressive theatrical, dance, film, and circus credentials: they all played with extravagant poise and professionalism, which gave the entire production its major strengths. The weaknesses came from the lack of focus as a theatrical play. Zimmermann is too kind with his tribute, allowing his co-authors full freedom is great but it does not lead to coherence as a theatre piece. This Quo Vadis leads to a perplexed audience, some of whom gave up trying to understand and left before the final denouement. It is a pity as the production values are stupendous: a stage with three revolving surfaces, secret trap doors in the stage floor, great decors and accessories, costumes by Susanne Boner, music by Tobias Preisig, soundscape by Andy Neresheimer, lighting by Ueli Kappeler, the list goes on; and finally, conception, direction, and choreography by Martin Zimmermann, assisted by Romain Guion! Who could ask for anything more? The answer to the rhetorical question could possibly be to continue to develop a great idea by giving it more centre focus on the scenario thus giving the play soul value, and not just a series of short burlesque sketches. PKO
Date line: Tuesday the 13th of May 2025
S 62° 58’, W 60° 39’
Peeping Tom
DANSE THÉÂTRE
Théâtre des Arts Créteil
Mercredi 03 & Jeudi 04 Avril 2024 - 20h00
PEEPING TOM
S 62° 58’ , W 60° 39’
PEEPING TOM deserves its claim to be a “dance” company! It exemplifies the best in the long tradition of dance in theatre, from dance in theatre’s early foundations in Greece, to dance’s present preeminence in many modern theatrical productions. Dance is an art form that touches on our deep emotions, effectively evoking common shared experiences and dreams. In its current production, S 62° 58’ , W 60° 39’, PEEPING TOM achieves epiphany with its audience. Founded by Gabriela Carrizo and Franck Chartier, the PEEPING TOM company has developed a hyperrealism based on a solid scenography, with identifiable characters. In the company’s current play, the dance actors effectively delineate their persona’s realities in voice and movement. Wonderfully created and played by: Marie Gyselbrecht, Chey Jurado, Lauren Langlois, Yi-chun Liu, Sam Louwyck, Romeu Runa, and Dirk Boelens, and assisted by Eurudike De Beul. The play’s concept, and direction by Frank Chartier, is an exquisite cornucopia of slapstick comedy and mock pathos sustained by a marvelous vulgarity of movement and spoken, sung, and screamed vocabulary. The play careens to its final, a near pornographic soliloquy, with a devil may care effervescence that mocks acceptable onstage behavior. Backed by: Soundscape, Raphaëlle LATINI, Lighting, Tom Visser, Choreography, Yi-Chun Liu, Costumes, Jessica Harkay, and technical creation and accessories, Filip Timmerman, the play is a must see! PKO
LIEU - Théâtre des Arts Créteil - Mercredi 03 & Jeudi 04 Avril 2024 - 20h00
Date line: Wednesday the 3rd of April, 2024
LA GRANDE MAGIA
Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota Eduardo De Filippo
MAC - Maison des Arts et de la Culture
DATES: February 29 - March 01, 2024
La Grande Magie directed by Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota, with the actors of the Théâtre de la Ville from Paris, presented his interpretation, of the immortal play by Eduardo De Filippo, recently at the Maison des Arts Créteil. Created in 1948 in post war Italy, Filippo’s play is a lyrical creation, wherein we are but players in a magical illusion that we break at our own peril. Complex and existential the world of LA GRANDE MAGIE, since its creation, has challenged players and directors the world over in its interpretation. Interweaving different social strata, directors and players are required to create a magical multi-dimensional reality, while making a relevant political comment on the actual world. Magic is a delicate art that requires constant practice, dedication, and intelligence to achieve its subliminal effect on our view of reality. Filippo knew this and benefited from the support of his family of players in his creation. Since its debut at the Espace Cardin in 2022, Demarcy-Mota has reworked and refined his vision of the inner meanings of the play in his theatrical presentation. He has had the faithful support of his cast of players in attempting to achieve a meaningful creative synthesis with Filippo’s vision of a postwar world populated with dangerous illusions of different conflicting realities, all possible yet still to be realized. Demarcy-Mota has improved the magic illusions in the play, the presentation has been endowed with sumptuous machinery, excellent staging, lighting, sound, and dedicated acting yet there is something missing. The missing element is magic legerity. Great illusionists produce their work with the light touch of an ease born of long arduous practice and a certain innate ability. Demarcy-Mota and his players are tenacious, and it is certain that time and conscientious practice will produce the ultimate illusion and relevance sought in his tribute to Filippo’s genius. PKO
LIEU -MAC - Maison des Arts et de la Culture du 29 février au 01 mars 2024
Review by:Patrick Kevin O'Hara
Date line: Thursday, February 29th, 2024
World Premiére: La Grande Magie - Espace Cardin
DATES: Dec 07, 2022 - Jan 08, 2023
La Grande Magie
LA GRANDE MAGIE, a play by Eduardo de Filippo, directed by Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota, is the work of an author with deeply rooted social convictions. It is not necessary to be a cryptologist to decipher Filippo’s meaning in his play that being of free will, choice, and belief. The Great Magic (English title) was written in 1948 after more than twenty years of fascist rule. Filippo comments that he was finally able to change his manner of writing. Liberated, from the strictures of an extreme right wing political domination and censorship, he was finally able to voice his humanist soul in an allegorical theatrical presentation, wrapped in the cloak of a magical comedy. Demarcy-Mota’s direction is deft and masterful, enacted by the acting company of the Théâtre de la Ville, composed of actors (for the most part) of long-standing affiliation with his direction and directorial vision. Given, brilliant writing, excellent staging, and direction: the questions remain, Do we care? Is the subject matter relevant today? Are we convinced by the actors and the director’s realization of Filippo’s free form poetic prose? These are questions that each audience must answer for themselves. Tuesday’s performance gave the impression of a certain fatigue, on the part of the actors. The magic was less than magical. Magic should be magical, not predictable, less it be judged inept and laughable, which it was not. Missing was the buffoonery, and lightness needed to carry the audience off into another world of imagination. The jilted wife’s choice of, to open or not to open, the suitcase, wherein her husband has been magically placed, is the center piece of the play’s plot and meaning. Placed in the context of a seaside resort hotel, where the elegant world-weary guests seek amusement, the magician, played by Serge Maggiani, purports to have made the philandering husband, appear, and reappear in the suitcase. He attempts to convince the wife that her husband is really in a tiny suitcase. She must make the choice of whether or not to open the suitcase. According to the magician, if she opens the suitcase and her husband is not there, then he will never reappear! If she doesn’t open the suitcase, then there will be always the possibility that he is really there and will someday make his magical reappearance. Filippo’s play: extrapolated into today’s real world, the question of free will and choice, maintains its relevancy. Yet to be seen is further efforts on the part of the actors to make the caring by the audience real.
A must see!
PKO
Date line: Tuesday, December 13th, 2022