Players, Mao II, The Names

By bringing together three works by Don DeLillo — Players, The Names, and Mao II—Julien Gosselin is able to weave together narratives revolving around the theme of terrorism in the '70s, while opening up the show to other dreamscapes as well. The variations in DeLillo's writing, the subtext, and the relationship to time have become for the young director key aspects of the American author's work. “I don't want to overemphasise connections between three different texts to create a convincing and explicit trilogy, but rather for the fiction to shatter so that events can arise from anywhere.” For both men—the writer and the director, history cannot be experienced in a linear fashion: it is as splintered as the flows of information that surround us, punctuated by moments of incredible intensity and other out-of-time experiences. Just like a novelist interrupts his plot to establish a setting, and just like reading itself can only be a discontinuous activity interrupted by the events of our everyday lives, the eight-hour show in which Julien Gosselin and his collective submerge us is above all a sensory experience. From the moment we enter the theatre to the moment we leave, fictional time and real time strive to come together.

With Rémi Alexandre, Guillaume Bachelé, Adama Diop,
Joseph Drouet, Denis Eyriey, Antoine Ferron,
Noémie Gantier, Carine Goron, Alexandre Lecroc-Lecerf,
Frédéric Leidgens, Caroline Mounier, Victoria Quesnel,
Maxence Vandevelde

Text Don DeLillo
Translation Marianne Véron and Adélaïde Pralon
Adaptation and direction Julien Gosselin
Stage design Hubert Colas
Lights Nicolas Joubert
Video Jérémie Bernaert, Pierre Martin
Music Rémi Alexandre, Guillaume Bachelé, Maxence Vandevelde
Sound Julien Feryn
Costumes Caroline Tavernier
Assistant direction Kaspar Tainturier- Fink

Production Si vous pouviez lécher mon coeur
Coproduction Kaidong Coopération franco-taiwanaise pour les arts vivants, Phénix scène nationale pôle européen de création Valenciennes - National Performing Arts Center - National Theater & Concert Hall, Taïwan,  L'Odéon Théâtre de l'Europe,  Le Théâtre National de Strasbourg, Festival d'Avignon, MC2 Grenoble,  Le Théâtre du Nord, C.D.N. Lille Tourcoing Hauts-de-France,  International Theater Amsterdam, Théâtre National de Bretagne,  Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg,  Bonlieu, Scène Nationale d'Annecy,  Le Quartz, Scène Nationale de Brest,  Festival d'automne à Paris,  La Filature de Mulhouse
With the support of  Nanterre-Amandiers, Montévidéo créations contemporaines (Marseille), Drac Hauts-de-France, Région Hauts-de-France et pour la 72e édition du Festival d'Avignon : Adami
With the help of the ateliers du Théâtre national de Strasbourg pour la construction des décors
With the participation of Jeune Théâtre National
Résidence La FabricA du Festival d'Avignon