La Dernière nuit du monde

Everything is still sleeping, and soon never again.

Imagine a world without night. A world where mankind, aided by science, puts an end to its physiological need for sleep. A pill would allow a person to sleep for only 45 minutes without the effect of fatigue. In the “era of the fragmented night” – where everyone chooses when they want to sleep – the stars no longer cradle any dreams, or any silence. Active, furious, relentless life runs through the veins of a joyful and all-powerful humanity. A fantasy for some, a nightmare for others, La Dernière nuit du monde tackles a theme which is scarely taboo. A 24-hour planet under the fallacious pretext that day is overflowing and that it is therefore time for humans to inhabit time differently. 

In this new work with accents of anticipation, Laurent Gaudé and Fabrice Murgia find fertile ground for collaboration. The opera Daral Shaga brought them together in 2014 alongside Cie Feria Musica. The two had planned to work together again one day. Jonathan Crary’s 24/7, Le Capitalisme à l’assaut du sommeil gave them that opportunity.

There is no light that needs no shade. 

To evoke this terrible fate of a world without rest, Laurent Gaudé imagines a young couple: Gabor (Fabrice Murgia) and Lou (Nancy Nkusi). He throws himself body and soul into the realisation of this sinister pill. She tries to reason with him, to sensitise him – but in vain. The last night comes, for humanity but also for the couple. Lou disappears. An investigation gets underway that is ultimately troubled by lack of sleep and the interests of unbridled capitalism.