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‘Wildekid' by Jan Sobrie & Raven Ruëll at Les Rencontre(s) d’été 2021 in Avignon

During this summer’s theatre festival in Avignon, La Chartreuse, Centre national des écritures du spectacle is presenting the work of Flemish playwrights Jan Sobrie & Raven Ruëll and Dutch playwrights Magne van den Berg and Frank Siera. The public readings in La Chartreuse and the translations themselves are part of a four-year project aimed at promoting Dutch-language plays in French-language regions, a joint effort by Dutch Performing Arts, Maison Antoine Vitez, the Flanders Arts Institute and Flanders Literature.

21 and 24 July 2021 will see the staged reading of three translated works about social inequality and violence against women. The performances are part of ‘Summer Encounters 2021’.

Les Rencontre(s) d’été 2021
The performances are part of ‘Les Rencontre(s) d’été 2021'.

The programme starts with ‘Woestzoeker’ (Wildekid) by Jan Sobrie & Raven Ruëll, translated by Esther Gouarné, read under the leadership of Lucie Berelowitsch.

Next comes a reading of ‘Kale bomen ruisen niet’ (Bare Trees Don’t Rustle) by Magne van den Berg, translated by Esther Gouarné, under the leadership of Pascale Henry with Valérie Bauchau and Marie-Sohna Condé. On 24 July the reading of ‘Spraakwater’ (Booze) by Frank Siera is on the programme, translated by Esther Gouarné and Mike Sens.

The French translation of the play was also presented earlier this year at the festival Regards Croisés in Grenoble. It had already caused a stir in Germany. The German translation by Barbara Buri was performed by Theaterstückverlag and awarded the Kaas & Kappes Prize (2019), the Württemberg Youth Theatre Prize (2020) and the German Children’s Theatre Prize (2020). In September 2020 the play was performed in Theater der Jungen Welt in Leipzig, directed by Jan Sobrie himself.

Jan Sobrie & Raven Ruëll (c) Theater Antigone

Dutch plays on stage in France

Since 2018 Flanders Literature, Dutch Performing Arts and the Flanders Arts Institute, in collaboration with Maison Antoine Vitez, have organized the translation and presentation of readings of plays from Flanders and the Netherlands in France. The collaboration is intended to increase the visibility of contemporary Dutch plays in the French-language area. The translated plays will be presented at various festivals and at other events for French-speaking theatre professionals.

La Chartreuse
La Chartreuse, Villeneuve-lès-Avignon
La Chartreuse, Centre national des écritures du spectacle
La Chartreuse, Centre national des écritures du spectacle

A place for European dramatists

La Chartreuse in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon is one of the most important players in Europe when it comes to support for writing for the theatre. It accommodates almost sixty residencies per year for authors or theatre companies. La Chartreuse organizes workshops and masterclasses and is often open to audiences during public rehearsals or events. In late 2019 Flanders Literature, Dutch Performing Arts, Maison Antoine Vitez and La Chartreuse organized a translation workshop in Villeneuve-lès-Avignon.

Jul 19th, 2021