The Great Theatre of Oklahoma

“I struggle; no one knows it; some may feel it, that can't be avoided; but no one knows it. I carry out my daily duties, one could accuse me of being somewhat inattentive, but only a little.” Franz Kafka
With Madeleine Louarn, Jean-François Auguste, and the handicapped actors of the Catalyse troupe, living for beauty and poetry requires work, it is a struggle. Making theirs Kafka's last and often little-known writings, they offer an exploration of that effervescent mind. The path Kafka always trailed with such clear-headedness becomes a playground where the actors' joy and surprise clash with mankind's destiny and our intrinsic insignificance. A spontaneous journey through this network of writings, The Great Theatre of Oklahoma shines a light on our blind spots and our strivings for assimilation, to find our place among others...

Madeleine Louarn
It is as a special needs educator that Madeleine Louarn discovered theatre in a centre for the mentally handicapped in Morlaix. There, she created the Catalyse workshop, dedicated to amateur performance, and became its director. For the past thirty years, she has directed plays by authors has diverse as Lewis Carroll and Christophe Pellet, Shakespeare and Beckett, Danil Harms and Frédéric Vossier. With the unique and exemplary actors of her company, she chooses texts which always question the concepts of the actor's performance, truth, and presence.

Jean-François Auguste
After graduating from the Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique, Jean-François Auguste founded the company For Happy people and Co in 2007. Using texts by Thomas Middleton, Frédéric Vossier, Marc Lainé, Sade, Loo Hui Phang, Christophe Blain, and Lewis Carroll, he created Alice or Wonderland, which he co-directed with Madeleine Louarn and which was performed by the actors of Catalyse. Since 2015, the company has explored the question of different “humanities” in several shows. The Great Theatre of Oklahoma is a continuation of that work in the world of Kafka.

With Tristan Cantin, Manon Carpentier, Guillaume Drouadaine, Christian Lizet, Christelle Podeur, Jean-Claude Pouliquen, Sylvain Robic

Freely adapted from Franz Kafka
Direction Madeleine Louarn, Jean-François Auguste
Choreography Agnieszka Ryszkiewicz
Dramaturgy Pierre Chevalier
Music Julien Perraudeau
Scénography Hélène Delprat
Lights Mana Gautier
Costumes Claire Raison

Production Théâtre de l'Entresort, For Happy people and co
Coproduction MC93 Maison de la Culture de Seine-Saint-Denis Bobigny, Le Quartz Scène nationale de Brest, MC2 : Scène nationale de Grenoble, CDN Besançon Franche-Comté, Théâtre national de Bretagne, Festival d'Avignon, Théâtre du Pays de Morlaix, L'Esat des Genêts d'Or
With the support of l'Adami pour la 72e édition du Festival d'Avignon
With the participation du Jeune Théâtre National