Atlanta Daybook
4 août 2008
7 Stages presents the World Première of In the Solitude of the Cotton fields
Koltès classic comes to life in groundbreaking American translation
Atlanta actor and translator, Isma'il ibn Conner teams up with 7 Stages Artistic Director and actor, Del Hamilton, in a world première translation into American English of In the Solitude of Cotton Fields (Dans la Solitude des Champs de Coton) by the highly acclaimed and often studied, contemporary French playwright Bernard-Marie Koltès and coproduced by CDDB - Théâtre de Lorient, Centre Dramatique National (France).
This play is a journey of deals - both profane and sacred, of desires that must be discovered and satisfied, of light and dark - two aspects of one entity, and the powerful interaction of two men who are more familier than they appear. There is only a dealer, a client and desires that must be satisfied at ail costs.
Forty years aller the assassination of Martin Luther King (April 4, 1968), Director Éric Vigner, head of the CDDB - Théâtre de Lorient, Centre Dramatique National, is staging In the Solitude of Cotton Fields by Bernard-Marie Koltès et Allanta's 7 Stages Theatre. Moving from BMK to MLK, and from French to English, Éric Vigner undertakes the creation of giving voice to theater, theater sensitive to both the location and Me text - with empathy for the deeper sense of the words and the places where they are to be produced (Atlanta), and ifs litle (solitude, cotton fields)... Éric Vigner's staging focuses on the history - or rather, the histories of BMK and MLK - and makes ail the world a stage, calling in question the world and the dividing lines between individuels and peoples, dividing lines that stil) exist alter the advent of civil rights, the end of segregation, or apartheid, in the United States and indeed ail over the world. Hosting one of the hottest French directors is a coup for Atlanta, but it also means our show has the best possible person as its leader, so we are especially happy to have him, says Hamilton.
This production marks the beginning of THE U. S. KOLTES PROJECT, a ten-year project created in order to translate and produce six of Koltès' plays, to continue the artistic legacy of the playwright Bernard-Marie Koltès. In cooperation with and through the exclusive permission of the Koltès Estate, a ten-year program was established in order to translate and produce six of Koltès' plays: Dans la solitude des champs de coton, Le Jour des meurtres dans l'histoire d'Hamlet, Sallinger, La Nuit juste avant les forêts, Tabataba and Quai Ouest. 7 Stages chose these plays because they address the curious human condition and predicament that U.S. citizens face in relation to themselves, as citizens of the world.
BeRNard-Marie Koltès emerged as one of the mort distinctive and important dramatic voices of the 1980s. His work, based in real-life problems, expresses the tragedy of being atone and of death. His writing style accents the dramatic tension and the lyricism of his plays. Each play speaks of intense isolation, fear of the 'Other', deal-making, senseless war, misptaced national loyalty, and dysfunctional familial lovelhate. Isma'il ibn Conner, Artistic Associate of 7 Stages and the official translator of the Koltès plays explains, the 7 Stages U.S. Koltès Project is a long-range effort to make new versions of Koltès' plays, including several that have not been published, as well as his novels and other wntings by and about him.