Marie-Antoinette à Pittsburgh

Pour le voir, c'est le moment, c'est l'instant. Jusqu'au 25.
http://www.play.pitt.edu/content/marie-antoinette

Marie Antoinette” is produced by the University of Pittsburgh and runs until February 25th at the Cathedral of Learning, Richard E. Rauh Studio Theatre, 4200 Fifth Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15260.

Un avis sur le show :

By Claire DeMarco, ‘Burgh Vivant

Everybody knows something about Marie Antoinette. There are two events, though, that first come to mind when her name is mentioned: her beheading and her comment concerning the masses “Let them eat cake” – a quote that has never been validated, by the way. Playwright David Adjmi takes Marie’s story and gives it a contemporary twist in “Marie Antoinette”.

We follow Marie (Alexis Primus) as she adapts to life at the French court and witnesses all the problems and events she and Louis XVI (Adam Nie) faced. Why did it take eight years for them to have a child? Did they have an up and down relationship? Why were they so out of touch with the dire economic conditions in France and the feelings of the French people? Why did Marie continue her extravagant excesses even when confronted with the people’s plight?

Marie is attended at court by Yolande De Polignac (Kayla Bradley) and Therese De Lamballe (Temperance Moore), her ladies-in-waiting who reinforce her frivolous behavior. They all act like schoolgirls dressed in the latest fashions, adorned with jewels, successfully balancing their wigs as they dance and prance around, oblivious to what’s happening on the Parisian streets. Semi-modern costumes (knee high dresses), rock music, today’s lingo is incorporated into this piece, along with the traditional trappings of 18th century France (huge wigs, big hooped dresses). Marie sports blue lipstick – perhaps because she’s a blue blood?

The backdrop for all this action takes place on a simplistic platform with few props, allowing the players to constantly move around the stage.

Joseph (Langston Reese), Marie’s older brother, is sent to France by their mother to find out why she and Louis XVI don’t have any children yet. Alex Fersen (Marco Lucero) becomes Marie’s loyal friend and possible-but-not-proven lover.

A Sheep (Meg McGill) is the play’s symbolic character that acts as Marie’s harbinger, signaling that the populace is angry about her endless spending while they are suffering. Gossip is rampant and her personal reputation is also tarnished. Rumors spread that she’s engaged in a lesbian affair. Some think she’s a prostitute. Unfortunately, Marie didn’t listen to any warning signs. “Who will draw my bath?” was one of the last lines she uttered in prison. She never “got it.”

“Marie Antoinette” is a contemporary version of an historical figure’s fate. Director Le’Mil Eiland explains it best: “This play and our production is a meditation on excess.”

Primus captures the wide range of Marie’s emotions and attitude. She is at times naïve, self-absorbed, fun-loving, unthinking, belligerent and hysterical.

Nie develops Louis XVI from an indecisive, shy monarch who first appears in pajamas while playing with clocks to someone more forceful (and more appropriately dressed as a king) as his character progresses.

McGill is clever and subtly funny as the meandering sheep.

Note: Because of the constant movement on stage as the actors move from one side of the stage to the other with their backs to parts of the audience, dialogue is sometimes muffled.
http://www.burghvivant.com/2018/02/20/heads-review-marie-antoinette/

tooooooo badddddd !!!!! c un peu loin !!!!!

Yep ! Dommage, parce que ça n'a pas l'air mal !

The director attempts to patch up some of the dramaturgical holes with an incredibly detailed production

By Ted Hoover


Alexis Primus in Marie Antoinette - Photo courtesy of Samantha Caun

If you’re headed to the University of Pittsburgh to catch its production of David

Adjmi’s Marie Antoinette, I’d suggest you spend a little time beforehand brushing up on the main character, the French Revolution, and the literature and philosophy of 18th-century France.

Such information could help in navigating your way through Adjmi’s unyielding script, which offers a new look at Marie, a cautionary figure whose popular perception has been that of a spoiled aristo brought down by vanity and greed. I’m not sure what Adjmi wants us to think of his Marie, written as a very self-actualized 21st-century woman, yet curiously uncurious and intellectually torpid.

He doesn’t seem to like her much, but he doesn’t seem to like any of the characters he’s written — not the royal family, the court nor the revolutionaries … and that’s his right, certainly. It’s just that he’s really given us nothing to get through the evening. Marie remains a cipher, and the events and historical figures swirling around her pass with no import or weight.

Pitt director Le’Mil Eiland attempts to patch up some of the dramaturgical holes with an incredibly detailed production. There is a lot of direction happening on stage, and it would seem that, with only one exception, not a single choice in movement, style, costume, lights or props has occurred without Eiland’s intense focus.

Unfortunately, that one exception nearly sinks the production — pace. For reasons that are anybody’s guess, this show is dragged out for an extra 20 minutes, and there’s not a second you’re unaware of it. Stately performances, interminable cue pick-ups and pointlessly convoluted scene changes bring the production, again and again, to a screeching dramatic halt. I was thinking that Eiland wanted to make sure we didn’t miss the point; trust me, Le’Mil, we got it already.

Happily, however, in the middle of all this is Alexis Primus playing Marie with unbreakable force and conviction. Her laser-sharp performance is all the more remarkable considering what a muddied, confused character the playwright has provided. Adam Nie’s King Louis is a goofy, spoiled buffoon and KJ Gilmer has a great deal of fun with the eye-popping costumes.
https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/david-adjmis-marie-antoinette-at-the-university-of-pittsburgh/Content?oid=6765672

infos pratiques
https://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/marie-antoinette/Event?oid=6765725

Une Marie-Antoinette black, c'est génial !

Top comme idée !!!!



elle est trop belle Alexis Primus !!!!!!

Chaque années aux States, ils montent cette pièce d'Adjimi. Et chaque production offre sa vision particulière. Ici, c'est celle de Pitt.

This particular production brings in parallels to modern government before the show even begins. Photos of famous French paintings and monarchical portraits — graffitied with words like “fake news” and “make France great again” — line the way to the seats. A museum label explaining the context of the picture and the meaning behind the words supplements each photo, helping the audience make a connection between the two. Videos of champagne being poured into a glass, perfume spraying and high heel-clad feet walking show on four television screens, foreshadowing the decadence of what is to come onstage.

In the show, the French monarchy’s use of money for their own self-interests parallels today, when lobbying groups affect how our congresspeople vote despite their constituents’ countless calls to their offices.

Music is a crucial element of the show from the beginning. Sophomore cellist Annalise Shaffer joins junior Kayla Bradley, who plays Yolande De Polignac, to sing “I Did Something Bad” by Taylor Swift from her album, “Reputation.” The entire song foreshadows Antoinette’s view toward the public — her frivolity and overspending was misguided, but she had a good time doing it. French rap plays between scene changes and onstage costume changes, modernizing and energizing the breaks between scenes.

Costumes designed by KJ Gilmer and junior Sophie Rice, along with junior Kyle Huber’s hair and makeup, add to the artifice — the actors wear cotton candy-colored wigs, gaudy makeup, bright dresses, floral corsets paired with short cage skirts and high heels that would make skyscrapers jealous.

The acting is superb from all members of the cast — even the guards and the courtiers, who don’t speak for the first half of the show. Junior Alexis Primus gives a nuanced Antoinette, whose character growth is visible and moving. First year Adam Nie’s Louis XVI channels Tom Hulce’s childish, neurotic Amadeus in the 1984 film of the same name.

Running 110 minutes with a 15-minute intermission, “Marie Antoinette” is not for the antsy, and its avant-garde nature might overwhelm a lay viewer. But for the seasoned theatergoer, “Marie Antoinette” is a treat that will leave you thinking long after the guillotine falls and the lights come up.

Pitt’s version of the play runs from Feb. 15 to 25 at the Richard E. Rauh Studio Theatre. Tickets for the show can be purchased online or at the department of theatre arts box office on the 16th floor of the Cathedral.
https://pittnews.com/

flower power a écrit:

Chaque années aux States, ils montent cette pièce d'Adjimi.

Plutôt ! On va pouvoir ouvrir une sous-section "Adjimi" dans le Boudoir de Marie-Antoinette !
https://maria-antonia.forumactif.com/search?mode=searchbox&search_keywords=adjimi&show_results=topics