Production Language French
Country of Origin France
Description In 1637 Pierre Corneille's revolutionary Le Cid hit the Paris stage and caused an immediate sensation. The thirty-year-old playwright's story of love under siege broke the strict rules of French classicism, releasing the creative stranglehold of the literary elite and marking the birth of the golden age of French drama.
That same radical spirit pervades Declan Donnellan's new staging of Corneille's masterpiece -- the smash hit of the 1998 Avignon Festival. Le Cid had been rendered untouchable at Avignon since the seminal 1951 Gérard Philippe production elevated the Festival to its current world-renowned status. Donnellan, best known to BAM audiences for his unconventional, actor-driven stagings of As You Like It (1994), The Duchess of Malfi (1995) and Much Ado About Nothing (1998), achieved an artistic coup at Avignon with his Le Cid. French critic Jean Boissieu heralded the production as, "an historic triumph. The applause lasted for fifteen minutes-a standing ovation -- a success I have not seen since the time of Jean Vilar and Gérard Philippe! Donnellan has won the battle of Le Cid."
Donnellan's Andalucian court evokes 20th century Spain under the military rule of Franco, with soldiers clad in khaki uniforms and women tailored in severe two-piece suits. On a barren plateau, empty but for three cordovan leather chairs, unfolds the tale of Chimene and Rodrigue, young lovers whose fledging romance triumphs over the rigid Spanish code of honor. With a potent tragi-comic mix, Donnellan and his formidable cast reinvent Le Cid as a relevant examination of heroism, love and honor.
Performed in French with surtitles.
Identifier 1999s.00659
