Description

Don Quixote by Marie-Claude Pietragalla and Julien Derouault<div> True to its commitment to building bridges between aesthetics and encouraging exchange, La Seine Musicale continues to offer original creations this season, at the crossroads of genres and artistic disciplines: music, dance, improvisation, poetry...</div><div><br></div><div> <strong>Presentation</strong></div><div> After captivating audiences at La Seine Musicale in March 2024 with Giselle(s), Marie-Claude Pietragalla and Julien Derouault's Théâtre du Corps returns with a large-scale creation: Don Quixote, a poetic and visionary fresco that transposes Cervantes' masterpiece into the near future. In this world where artificial intelligence shapes language, harmonizes behavior, and "adjusts truth to the common good," the mythical Dulcinea becomes an AI, a figure of normative gentleness and invisible control.</div><div> In contrast to her, a man chooses excess: to believe, to love, to risk. Through him, the knight of La Mancha is reborn — hero of the impossible, defender of dreams and inner freedom.</div><div> This Don Quixote is not a classic reinterpretation but a sensitive exploration of the present: what remains of our humanity when technology claims to protect us from ourselves? Is loving an artificial intelligence a betrayal of humanity or an exposure of it to its nakedness?</div><div><br></div><div> The play opens a dialogue between poetry and politics, between flesh and code. On stage, no fewer than 18 performers compose a society in motion, traversed by contrasts and emotions, and very current tensions.</div><div> From fragmented solos to collective choruses, from burlesque duels to lyrical processions, Pietragalla and Derouault's choreography and staging orchestrate a physical theatre where technical precision blends with vital energy. Julien Derouault embodies a modern-day Don Quixote, a fragile yet luminous knight; his faithful Sancho dreams of becoming "Sancho the Star"—a tender and ironic duo, a mirror to our hyper-connected world. Between lyricism and humor, abstraction and pure emotion, Don Quixote resonates across the stage as a space of resistance and beauty.</div><div> The myth regains its original power: not that of victory, but that of disobeying renunciation.</div><div><br></div><div> <strong>Distribution</strong></div><div> Julien Derouault, Don Quixote</div><div> Prince Mhai, Sancho Panza</div><div> Baptiste Ollier, Alberto</div><div> Antonin Muno, Kitri</div><div> Lola Derouault Pietragalla, Dulcinea pas de deux</div><div> Matthias Damay Romey, Principal Clown</div><div> Giulia Aubé, Ylona Bonnet, Louis Combet Vittori, Aleksandra Efimova, Titouan</div><div> Fourvel, Lise Fromont, Joris Gruvel, Morgan Gruvel, Simon Langin, Gabin</div><div> Lanterne, Étienne Lloria and Romain Ovieve</div><div> Ludwig Minkus – Levon Minassian – Adriàn Berenguer – The Prodigy, music</div><div> Julien Derouault, texts</div><div> Claire Allante, virtual sets</div><div> Alexis David, lights</div><div> Guillaume de Tonquédec, sound designer</div><div> Marie-Claude Pietragalla, assisted by Anna Leidi, costumes</div><div> With the participation of Franck Sorbier and Evanbenjamin</div>