In Jean Bellorini’s theater there is a desire to reconnect with a story through which words meet images. The director has already experimented with this narrative theater several times during his previous creations. In The Messengers or Story of a Cid for example, both repeated this year at the Théâtre National Populaire, the words of the characters already merged with the words of their interpreters by blurring the border supposed to separate fiction from reality. But with Les Miserablesa play created in January 2024 at the Poly Theater in Beijing, the director of the TNP seems to be taking a new step with the adaptation of one of the founding novels of French cultural identity abroad.
Drawing on the novelistic writing of Victor Hugo, Jean Bellorini therefore continues to develop a stage form which keeps the story at a certain distance from the performers and the audience. However, under the overwhelming scenography of Véronique Chazal which reproduces the great heights of miserable gray buildings, any attempt at naturalism would have had its place. But in this immense space as in the lives of the characters who compose Les Miserableseverything is in reality emaciated, reduced to its strict minimum and made up of great symbolism, notably placed on the plate via the lights which give this creation its spectacular dimension.
Because beyond the recitative and distanced interpretation that he offers to his troupe straight from China, Jean Bellorini also works on an aesthetic piece where playing spaces of beautiful intensity are regularly imposed and where the a more demonstrative theater. Thus the director finds, in the immensity of Victor Hugo’s novel, a balance between what is told and what is experienced, between action and narration. Following this pattern, he advances two writings in parallel: that of the characters whose history and relationships he delves into, and that of a politically unstable France which continues to seek itself in the legacy of the revolution.
From this historical section, and despite the tragic destiny of the characters who inhabit the novel, emerges an idealized vision of the insurrection and French bohemian life. Here Jean Bellorini’s stage approach gives meaning to the artistic and human encounter which was at its origin: a partnership with Yang Hua Theater on the occasion of sixty years of Franco-Chinese cooperation. Indeed, as if to mix fantasy with reality, the director places himself at the crossroads of the postcard-style image and contemporary creation, between the great spectacle with effects and dramaturgical sobriety.
Through this collaboration, the director of the TNP also suggests a new way of reading Victor Hugo. Performed in Mandarin and surtitled in French, the text seems to reveal itself in its precision and complexity, as if to remind the audience of the Théâtre National Populaire how beautiful its language is and its rich cultural heritage. It is undoubtedly not insignificant that Chinese institutions include Les Miserables among the essential works of French culture…
Credits
d’après le novel de Victor Hugo / mise en scène Jean Bellorini / adaptation Jean Bellorini et Mathieu Coblentz / avec Yang Hua Theater / avec Liu Ye, Lin Lin, Lin Jifan, Li Jing, Jiang Hao Yan, Liu Chongzuo, Li Qixuan, Tao Hui, Luo Yongjuan, Hua Qi, Shi Ke, Zhu Meng, Chen Zui / claviers, accordion Chen Minhua / batteries Zhang Ruijia / translation Ning Chunyan / assistance in the mise en scène Ray Zhang / scénographie Véronique Chazal / lighting and musical composition Jean Bellorini / musical direction Sébastien Trouvé / costumes Macha Makeïeff
