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No forecast for a cool front as far as summer theater in Paris is concerned. French houses may close shop in July and August, but insodoing they make room for a slew of English-language productions from Australia, the UK and Ireland as well as from local companies. While the French are away, the Anglophones will play... One work to visit from abroad actually comes home to Paris. "Suzanne Valadon: The Nude Who Painted Bac" was created in Ireland but takes as its subject turn-of-the-century Montmartre and the life of Suzanne Valadon, a favorite model of Renoir and Toulouse-Lautrec but a talented painter in her own right. In fact, encouraged by Degas, who recognized her genius, she was one of the first women to show in the art salons of the period. A great beauty desired by many of the men she posed for, she was also the mother of Maurice Utrillo. Yet, except for the many images of her in the paintings of the Impressionist masters, Valadon has all but slipped into obscurity today. Who was this determined, daring woman who challenged both gender and class lines (she was the illegitimate child of an illiterate washerwoman) to paint with the boys of Montmartre? Who, indeed, was Suzanne Valadon? This is the question the mother/daughter, writer/actress team of Miriam and Mia Gallagher have set out to answer, helped by Nathalie Rafal, a Marcel Marceau-trained movement teacher and director, and singer Caroline Moreau. The four women have created a vivid, multi-media production to tell this equally colorful, multi-faceted story. Gallagher and Rafal play Valadon and the many men in her life while Moreau sings and performs on accordion forgotten music of the period, resurrected through careful research. In tandem with the performance, slide images of Valadon's work are projected in order, said Mia Gallagher, to let the artist's aggressive line and unusual perspective speak for themselves in helping to rehabilitate this bold and brilliant painter. "Valadon" is the final English-language show in the festival hosted by the Petit Hébertot since April. The theater continues its Anglo programming into autumn, however, with two shows starting in July from Paris-based companies. The Glasshouse Theater presents Eileen Atkin's "Vita and Virginia" while Bravo Productions stages A. R. Gurney's "Love Letters." Both explore epistolary relationships, the first through the 20 years of correspondence exchanged between the authors, friends and lovers Virginia Woolf and Vita Sackville-West, and the second through the letters of fictional amants Andy and Melissa, written from childhood through middle age. As Vita and Virginia, Helen Later and Irene Palko give a droll yet tender reading of the West/Woolf relationship that withstood diplomatic travels, literary success and both women's marriages, but ended with Woolf's suicide in 1941. After a brief showing in January, the show now gets the proper run it merits. Glasshouse is also behind the organization of "Full English," a mini-festival at the cabaret-style, second stage of the Théâtre les Déchargeurs. Continuing the theme of famous artists, "Picasso's Women" by Irish writer Brian McAvera and performed by Glasshouse, deconstructs the leading figure of 20th century art by giving the floor to the women in his life. Blue Tongue Theater visits from Australia with two shows providing opposing glimpses of contemporary theater from down under: "Wolf Lullaby" explores the subject of child murderers and their legal defense, loosely based on a real-life case in Tasmania, while "Mr. Melancholy" is pure fantasy: a colony of hermits is shaken up by the surprise arrival of a runaway circus clown. Finally, actress/singer/dancer Gay Marshall premieres her one-woman show of sketches about life as an expat, "If I Were Me... Songs and Angst of an American in Paris," with music by Noel Coward, Mae West, Tom Lehrer... A Broadway career didn't stop this Cleveland native from moving here 10 years ago for love but she still hasn't stopped wondering exactly what the French love affair is all about: venomous vendeuses, dog poop, the plastic mania and linguistic faux pas all get a lashing from Marshall's merciless wit, as do her own neuroses as an actress and une américaine. Still, as probably the only person alive who has managed to extract a refund from a Printemps salesclerk (by throwing a temper tantrum and refusing to leave at closing time), Marshall is anything but a shrinking violet and wouldn't trade her life here for a return stateside because, she says, "I'll never get sick of sunset over the Place de la Concorde." Also continuing through July, On Stage Theatre dukes out the "can't live with 'em/can't live without 'em" battle of the sexes in David Mamet's "Sexual Perversity in Chicago." "Suzanne Valadon," til July 20, 7pm; "Vita and Virginia," July 15 to Sept 18, Thu-Sat, 7pm; "Love Letters," July 18 to Sept 22, Sun-Wed, 7pm; Petit Hébertot, 78 bis, bd des Batignolles, 17e, M? Rome/Villiers, tel: 01.44.70.06.69, 100F/70F. "Full English" festival: "Wolf Lullaby," July 27 to 31, 7pm; "Mr. Melancholy," July 27-31, 9pm; "If I Were Me," July 20-31, 8:30pm; "Picasso's Women," July 13-17, 8:30pm, July 20-24, 10pm (all shows Tue-Sat); Théâtre les Déchargeurs, 3, rue des Déchargeurs, 1er, M? Châtelet, 80F/60F, tel: 01.42.36.10.29,) "Sexual Perversity in Chicago," til July 31, Tue-Sat, 9pm, Théâtre de Nesle, 8, rue de Nesle, 6e, MetroOdéon/Pont Neuf, tel: 01.46.34.61.04, 90F/70F. Around Town and Out For the first half of July at least, the national theaters stay open, and there are always the festivals in Paris and Avignon. Here's what's happening for French theater this summer. Jérôme Deschamps and Macha Makeieff of "Les Deschiens" fame bring back to the Odéon-Théâtre de l'Europe their acclaimed '97 production of Molière's "Les Precieuses ridicules," the story of two bourgeois daughters who think themselves too refined to be married off to the humble suitors chosen for them by their father. July 1-14, Tue-Sat, 8pm; Sun, 3pm; 1, pl de l'Odéon, 6e, M?Odéon, 30-170F, tel: 01.44.41.36.36. The Comédie Française moves its run of Molière's "Les Fourberies de Scapin" to the Opéra Royal de Versailles for two weeks. July 4, 10, 11, 6:30pm, July 1, 5, 6, 7, 8, 12, 9pm, tel: 01.30.83.78.88. The Opéra Comique finishes its season with Puccini's "Tosca," featuring American tenor Scott Emerson in the role of Spoletta. July 2, 6, 9, 11 (in Italian), July 4, 7, 10 (in French), 7:30pm (Sun show 4pm), 5, rue Favart, 2e, M? Richelieu Drouot, tel: 01.42.44.45.46, 50-500F. Paris Quartier d'Eté celebrates 10 years of summer programming with "Hamlet sur la route" (July 27-31) and "Kasko" inspired by "Le Cid" (July 19-24), both in the Square Sorbier. Achille Tonic also sets up its tent in the Jardin des Tuileries for a month of cabaret/circus/music hall antics (July 20 to Aug 14). Info: 01.44.94.98.00. Finally, it wouldn't be summer without the Festival d'Avignon (July 9-31), this year spotlighting theater and dance from South America and featuring three productions directed by Thomas Ostermeier of Berlin's Die Baracke theater: Brecht's "Mann ist Mann," Richard Dresser's "Unter der Gürtellinie" and Mark Ravenhill's "Shopping and Fucking." Info: 04.90.14.14.26; reservations: 04.90.14.14.14, www.festival-avignon.com. |
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