Consulate General of France & French Trade Commission in Atlanta
Mai 2008
The Koltes Project sets its seeds in Atlanta
World premiere In the Solitude of Cotton Fields by Bernard-Marie Koltès at 7Stages Theater.
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 ln 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 familiar than they appear. There is only a dealer, a client and desires that must be satisfied at all costs.
Forty years after the assassination of Martin Luther King (April 4, 1968), Director Éric Vigner, head of the CDDB - Théâtre de Lorient, is staging In the Solitude of Cotton Fields by Bernard-Marie Koltès at Atlanta'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 the text - with empathy for the deeper sense of the words and the places where they are to be produced (Atlanta), and its title (solitude, cotton fields)...
ÉRIC VIGNER's staging focuses on the history - or rather, the histories of BMK and MLK - and makes all the world a stage, calling in question the world and the dividing lins between individuels and peoples, dividing lines that still exist after the advent of civil rights, the end of segregation, or apartheid, in the United States and indeed all over the world. Hosting one of the hottest French directors is a coup for Atlanta, but it also means our show bas the best possible perron as ils 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 artiste legacy of the playwright Bernard-Marie Koltès ln 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 most 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, misplaced national royalty, and dysfunctional familial love/hate. Isma'il ibn Conner, Artistitic 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 no yers and other writings by and about him.