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Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles

La Reine Lear

Queen Lear
Tom Lanoye, Christophe Sermet / Cie. du Vendredi

08 > 19.01.2019
Theatre

Six years after the success of Mamma Medea, Tom Lanoye and Christophe Sermet join forces again to revisit a Shakespeare classic: King Lear.
The Flemish author turns Lear into a woman and places her in a contemporary setting, international high finance in a virtual world that lays waste to the corporeal.

At the head of an enormous empire, Queen Lear calls her three sons together to bestow an inheritance that is too huge to be the product of honest labor. A suffocating mother, she requires a verbal proof of her children’s love before deciding on a division between them. One of them, Cornald, refuses to play his mother’s flattery games and flees to an emerging country to develop a micro credit program.

It’s the beginning of the tragedy against a backdrop of climatic and financial storms. It will take Cornald’s life and witness the Lear family devouring each other as the assets of the company reel under the assaults of the competition.

Tom Lanoye doesn’t attenuate the strength and violence of Shakespeare’s King Lear. He adapts it by making language the heart of the piece, not the text, but the language. A carnal baroque language that puts the bodies in movement.

Calendar

  • - 20:15

    + <a href="https://www.theatrenational.be/en/activities/487-en-bas-la-ville-frontieres"> vernissage expo Haïti - 19:00</a>

  • - 19:30
  • - 20:15
  • - 20:15
  • - 20:15
  • - 20:15

    Introduction - 19:45

  • - 19:30

    <a href="https://www.theatrenational.be/en/activities/719-rencontre-constructeurs-d-histoires">discussion 'Builders of Stories' after show</a>

  • - 20:15
  • - 20:15
  • - 20:15

Information

Language

FR

Duration

120’

Venue

Grande salle

Surrounding the show

Introduction 15.01.2018 - 19:45 (15')

Surrounding the show

discussion 'Builders of Stories' after show 16.01.2018

Sound level

category 2

Cast

From the text « La Reine Lear »
Tom Lanoye

Translation 
Alain Van Crugten

Direction
Christophe Sermet

With
Elisabeth Lear : Anne Benoît
Kent : Philippe Jeusette
Cornald : Iacopo Bruno
Gregory : Yannick Renier
Henry : Baptiste Sornin
Oleg : Bogdan Zamfir
Coralie : Claire Bodson
Alma : Raphaëlle Corbisier 

Scenography and light design
Simon Siegmann

Sound design
Maxime Bodson

Video (design)
Kurt d’Haeseleer

Costume designer 
Jean-Paul Lespagnard

Assistant Director
Vladimir Steyaert

Trainee
Marine Bernard de Bayser

Decorator
Eugénie Obolensky

Pattern designer 
Isabelle Lhoas

Hairdressing & makeup
Urteza Da Fonseca

Scenography trainee
Victoria Penanhoat

Mechanical designer and motorization
Chris Vanneste 

Manager of Cie.  
Sylviane Evrard

Stage Manager
Cédric Otte

Video Operator 
Ludovic Desclin 

Light Operator 
Corentin Christiaens

Sound Operator 
Pawel Wnucznski

Stage hand
Ludovic John, Stéphanie Denoiseux, Dimitri Wauter

Touring support
Sabine Dacalor / Trajet(s)

Création Studio Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles

Production
Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles

Set construction and costumes
Ateliers du Théâtre National Wallonie-Bruxelles

Co-production 
Compagnie du Vendredi – Cie. Christophe Sermet, Théâtre de Namur, La Coop asbl, Shelter Prod

Realized with the support of 
la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles – Direction du Théâtre

In partnership with  
Centre des Arts Scéniques

With the support of
taxshelter.be, ING & tax-shelter du gouvernement fédéral belge, Flanders Literature 

Special thanks to
Céline Loop et Safdar Rahman

© Lara Gasparotto
Le Rideau de saison, Maak & Transmettre · photo : Lucile Dizier, 2024