Thomas Joly, the director of the opening ceremonies of the Paris 2024 Games, visited the François Ier high school in Vitry-le-François this Friday, January 17 for an exchange with high school students. He urged the students to take up artistic creation.
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“By coming here you are marking one of the most beautiful pages in the history of the François I high school”. The principal of the Vitry-le-François high school, David Cognat, welcomed the director Thomas Jolly like a rockstar.
Propelled into the spotlight with the Olympic and Paralympic Games ceremonies, Thomas Jolly has had a ministerial agenda since this summer. He especially did not want to miss this meeting with the high school students in the theater option and humanities, literature and philosophy specialty from the Vitry-le-François establishment: “It’s totally normal for me to participate in these meetings, specifies the director, I was entitled to it when I was a student so it’s my turn to pass on this passion”.
Starting this weekend, create your first piece!
On the program, an exchange on the role of theater in society and the challenges of directing, with Thomas Jolly style of course. In front of an audience hung on his words and studious, he uses words, humor and a passion for theater. The director defines himself more as a “stage matchmaker to bring together a text and living actors and actresses while giving them a lot of freedom”.
-Directing, passion for theater, Thomas Jolly gave motivation to high school students, some of whom are planning careers in the performing arts.
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© Robinson Radenac
It’s impossible for him not to look back on this summer of 2024. He tells the high school students of Vitry-le-François the secrets of a successful production: “for the ceremony on the Seine, the decor was already exceptional, there was no point in creating an additional decor, he develops, I therefore preferred to give everything to the choreographies and the live performance”.
But above all, keen to keep the flame of directing and theater alive, Thomas Jolly wanted to motivate the high school students: “Go ahead, get started! The advantage of theater is that you can make plays without any budget, just your imagination and your motivation, he says, this weekend, prepare your first piece!”
Proximity and positive discourse appreciated by students
The loud applause at the end of the conference reflects the support of the high school students. Some are pumped up to embark on a sometimes precarious profession: “many people tell us that there are no job opportunities, that the profession is unstable, explains Anaëlle, first grade student, Thomas Jolly is quite the opposite, he tells us that we must try.” Anita, her friend, agrees: “he really speaks to us as if he knows us, it’s very pleasant”.
Students from the theater option performed a few lines from the playwright Seneca in front of Thomas Joly.
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© Robinson Radenac
Some even risked playing a few lines from Thyestes by the playwright Seneca: “we were very stressed to play in front of him, entrusts Sam to his first theater option, especially since he has already produced this piece (Editor’s note: performed at the Avignon festival) and it made him happy.” An enriching afternoon for all the students with Thomas Jolly, described by Kevin Parisel, the head of the theater option as the one who “really worked to establish theater in establishments with affordable and demanding plays”.
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