Neandertal [2023]

Opening night on July 6th 2023, at Festival d’Avignon.

Written and directed by
David Geselson

Assistant director
Aurélien Hamard-Padis
Jade Maignan
Performed by
David Geselson
Adeline Guillot
Jan Hammenecker, Peter De Graef in rotation
Marina Keltchewsky
Sarah Le Picard, Laure Mathis in rotation
Elios Noël
live drawing on sand
Marine Dillard
cello
Jérémie Arcache, Valentin Mussou in rotation

Stage design
Lisa Navarro assisted by Margaux Nessi

Lighting design
Jérémie Papin assisted by Rosemonde Arrambourg

Video design
Jérémie Scheidler

Interaction and video designer
Jérémie Gaston-Raoul

Sound design
Loïc Le Roux assisted by Orane Duclos

Costume design
Benjamin Moreau assisted by Florence Demingeon

Original soundtrack
Jérémie Arcache

Assistant playwriter
Quentin Rioual

Artistic advice
Juliette Navis

General stage manager
Sylvain Tardy

Stage manager
Nicolas Hénault

Set construction
MC93, Maison de la Culture de Seine-Saint-Denis Bobigny

Executive and tour manager
Noura Sairour

Production manager
Laëtitia Fabaron

Press relations
AlterMachine | Carole Willemot

Team on tour

Assistant director
Céline Gaudier

General stage manager
Sylvain Tardy

Stage manager
Nicolas Hénault
Kayla Krog

Lighting manager
Rosemonde Arrambourg
Marine Le Vey

Sound manager
Orane Duclos
Loïc Le Roux

Video manager
Julien Reis
Jérémie Scheidler

Duration 2h25

Performance in french

DNA is an invisible encyclopedia.
The blueprint for all living beings, it contains the information that makes us who we are.
But how did the Sapiens encyclopedia, our own, become what it is?
How do we read it, decode it, interpret it?

We carry within us our own book as well as those of our ancestors.

By learning to read them, we can try to shed light on our past and, perhaps, imagine our future differently.

Because the light DNA can shed allows us to decipher it, to understand what it makes of us, Svante Pääbo – winner of the 2022 Nobel Prize for Medicine – embarked in the 1990s on a mad quest: to decipher the DNA of our closest ancestors, the Neanderthals, in order to compare it with our own and try to understand how our species emerged, at what point in history, and by what mechanisms.

Thirty years later, his discoveries and those of his team speak to us of our place in the world we inhabit, the world that shelters us.
They tell us that we are part of a long continuum of crossings, mixtures, encounters, links, and ruptures. That life has made its way to us, through dark and painful episodes, and that it will continue beyond us.

The history of science is one of successive life-shattering revolutions made by men and women in search of a truth, a way of worldmaking, as philosopher Nelson Goodman would say.
But who are those women and men? How do their private lives influence their research? What are their stories made of? And above all, what drives their search?

In Neandertal, scientists attempt to rewrite the history of human origins by deciphering fragments of ancient DNA. Life and research mingle, collide, and feed off each other, and their discoveries, torn from the solitude of laboratories, shatter every notion of racial or ethnic purity.

David Geselson

 

Produced by Compagnie Lieux-Dits

Coproduced by Théâtre Dijon Bourgogne – Centre dramatique national, Théâtre de Lorient – Centre dramatique national de Bretagne, Comédie – Centre dramatique national de Reims, Théâtre Gérard Philipe – Centre dramatique national de Saint-Denis, Théâtre-Sénart – Scène nationale, ThéâtredelaCité – CDN Toulouse Occitanie, Comédie de Genève, MAIF Social Club, Festival d’Avignon, Le Canal – Théâtre du pays de Redon – Scène conventionnée d’intérêt national art et création pour le théâtre, Théâtre d’Arles, Malakoff Scène nationale, MC93 Maison de la Culture de Seine-Saint-Denis à Bobigny, Le Gallia Théâtre – Scène conventionnée d’intérêt national art et création de Saintes, Théâtre de Choisy-le-Roi – Scène conventionnée d’intérêt national art et création pour la diversité linguistique

With the help of the DGCA – ministère de la culture, of la vie brève – Théâtre de l’Aquarium (Paris), of the CNDC – Théâtre Ouvert

Project financed by Région Ile-de-France and Département du Val-de-Marne

Compagnie Lieux-Dits is accredited by the ministère de la Culture – DRAC Île-de-France

Scientific advice
Evelyne Heyer and Sophie Lafosse (eco-anthropology, Musée de l’Homme), Cyrille Le Forestier (archaeo-anthropology, Inrap), Julie Birgel (CAGT)

Freely inspired by
Neanderthal Man: In Search of Lost Genomes by Svante Pääbo, Basic Books, 2015
Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox, Harper Perennial, 2002
The gravediggers by Taina Tervonen, Marchialy, 2021

Acknowledgments
Frédérique Aït-Touati, Sharif Andoura, Jean-Marc Barbance, Caroline Barneaud, Razya Ben-Porat, Élodie Bouédec, Martine Bom, Jeanne Candel, Alexandre Caputo, Bénédicte Cerutti, Yannick Choirat, Servane Ducorps, Sébastien Éveno, Delphine Hecquet, Jan Peters, Manon Kneusé, Isabelle Le Ber, Kristel Marcoen, Serge Rangoni, Arno Seghiri, Joséphine Supe
For the loan of scenographic elements and technical tools :
The laboratory of Genoscope – National Center of Sequencing
Le Théâtre du Peuple – Bussang
La Compagnie Magique-Circonstancielle I Delphine Hecquet
la vie brève – Théâtre de l’Aquarium (Paris)
Le Théâtre Dijon Bourgogne – Centre dramatique national
La Comédie – Centre dramatique national de Reims

DNA is an invisible encyclopedia.
The blueprint for all living beings, it contains the information that makes us who we are.
But how did the Sapiens encyclopedia, our own, become what it is?
How do we read it, decode it, interpret it?

We carry within us our own book as well as those of our ancestors.

By learning to read them, we can try to shed light on our past and, perhaps, imagine our future differently.

Because the light DNA can shed allows us to decipher it, to understand what it makes of us, Svante Pääbo – winner of the 2022 Nobel Prize for Medicine – embarked in the 1990s on a mad quest: to decipher the DNA of our closest ancestors, the Neanderthals, in order to compare it with our own and try to understand how our species emerged, at what point in history, and by what mechanisms.

Thirty years later, his discoveries and those of his team speak to us of our place in the world we inhabit, the world that shelters us.
They tell us that we are part of a long continuum of crossings, mixtures, encounters, links, and ruptures. That life has made its way to us, through dark and painful episodes, and that it will continue beyond us.

The history of science is one of successive life-shattering revolutions made by men and women in search of a truth, a way of worldmaking, as philosopher Nelson Goodman would say.
But who are those women and men? How do their private lives influence their research? What are their stories made of? And above all, what drives their search?

In Neandertal, scientists attempt to rewrite the history of human origins by deciphering fragments of ancient DNA. Life and research mingle, collide, and feed off each other, and their discoveries, torn from the solitude of laboratories, shatter every notion of racial or ethnic purity.

David Geselson

Premiere on July, 6th 2023 at Festival d'Avignon.  

Written and directed by David Geselson

Assistant director Aurélien Hamard-Padis Jade Maignan

Performed by David Geselson Adeline Guillot Peter De Graef, Jan Hammenecker in rotation Marina Keltchewsky Sarah Le Picard, Laure Mathis in rotation Elios Noël live drawing on sand Marine Dillard cello Jérémie Arcache, Valentin Mussou in rotation

Stage design

Lisa Navarro in collaboration with Margaux Nessi

Lighting design

Jérémie Papin in collaboration with Rosemonde Arrambourg

Video design

Jérémie Scheidler

Sound design

Loïc Le Roux in collaboration with Orane Duclos

Original soundtrack

Jérémie Arcache

Costume design

Benjamin Moreau in collaboration with Florence Demingeon

Assistant playwriter

Quentin Rioual

Artistic advice

Juliette Navis

General stage manager

Sylvain Tardy

stage manager

Nicolas Hénault

Set construction

Maison de la culture de Seine-Saint-Denis - MC93

Executive manager and tour manager

Noura Sairour

Production manager

Laëtitia Fabaron

Press relations

AlterMachine I Carole Willemot

Team on tour

Assistant director

Céline Gaudier

General stage manager

Sylvain Tardy

Stage manager

Nicolas Hénault Kayla Krog

Lighting manager

Rosemonde Arrambourg Marine Le Vey

Sound manager

Orane Duclos Loïc Le Roux

Video manager

Julien Reis Jérémie Scheidler

Duration 2h25

Performance in French

 

Produced by Compagnie Lieux-Dits

 

Coproduced byThéâtre Dijon Bourgogne – Centre dramatique national, Théâtre de Lorient – Centre dramatique national, Comédie – Centre dramatique national de Reims, Théâtre Gérard Philipe – Centre dramatique national de Saint-Denis, Théâtre-Sénart – Scène nationale, ThéâtredelaCité – CDN Toulouse Occitanie, Comédie de Genève, MAIF Social Club, Festival d’Avignon, Le Canal – Théâtre du pays de Redon – Scène conventionnée d’intérêt national art et création pour le théâtre, Théâtre d’Arles, Malakoff Scène nationale, MC93 Maison de la Culture de Seine-Saint-Denis à Bobigny, Le Gallia Théâtre – Scène conventionnée d’intérêt national art et création de Saintes, Théâtre de Choisy-le-Roi – Scène conventionnée d’intérêt national art et création pour la diversité linguistique  

With the help of the ministère de la Culture, Région Île-de-France, Département du Val-de-Marne, Théâtre Ouvert – Centre national des Dramaturgies Contemporaines, la vie brève -Théâtre de l’Aquarium (Paris)

 

Project financed by Région Île-de-France, Département du Val-de-Marne,

 

Compagnie Lieux-Dits is accredited by the ministère de la Culture – DRAC Île-de-France

 

Loosely inspired by Neanderthal Man: In Search of Lost Genomes by Svante Pääbo, Basic Books, 2015 Rosalind Franklin: The Dark Lady of DNA by Brenda Maddox, Harper Perennial, 2002 The gravediggers by Taina Tervonen, Marchialy, 2021

 

Acknowledgments Frédérique Aït-Touati, Sharif Andoura, Jean-Marc Barbance, Caroline Barneaud, Razya Ben-Porat, Élodie Bouédec, Martine Bom, Jeanne Candel, Alexandre Caputo, Bénédicte Cerutti, Yannick Choirat, Servane Ducorps, Sébastien Éveno, Delphine Hecquet, Manon Kneusé, Isabelle Le Ber, Kristel Marcoen, Serge Rangoni, Arno Seghiri, Joséphine Supe For the loan of scenographic elements and technical tools : The laboratory of Genoscope - National Center of Sequencing Le Théâtre du Peuple – Bussang La Compagnie Magique-Circonstancielle I Delphine Hecquet la vie brève – Théâtre de l’Aquarium (Paris) Le Théâtre Dijon Bourgogne – Centre dramatique national La Comédie – Centre dramatique national de Reims

  The text Neandertal is published by Lieux-Dits publishing.

Teaser

“David Geselson creates a narrative that progresses quietly and whose magnitude needs no clamour to assert its omnipotence. Instead of spectacularity, he prefers the whisper of intimacy to the clash of reality. (…) Taking hushed, strategic steps forward, [he] creates a fascinating show. While its dramaturgy is limpid, its resonances are dizzyingly complex. They ricochet off a multitude of themes: paternity and filiation, memory and forgetting, bonding and emancipation, rationality and belief. (…) David Geselson excels at allusion without getting sidetracked into equivocation. It’s an extraordinary talent.”

Joëlle Gayot – Le Monde

“Watching for common genomes between Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals… A quest that is both scientific and philosophical, skilfully directed by David Geselson, where great history and intimate wounds intertwine. (…) On stage, earth, rock, bones thousands of years old… and Mahlerian musical accents that lift the soul. (…) Here the artist affirms his theatrical research and confirms his talent for telling the great story (in this case the very, very great one…) through the most intimate wounds.”

Emmanuelle Bouchez – Télérama

“The play twirls through scientific challenges without leading us astray. A virtuoso (…) David Geselson has a particular talent for going from one thing to another without the absurdity of the situations or the association of his ideas ever seeming gratuitous. He probably achieves this because each of the actors – all of whom are excellent – plunges us into the present, into shared feelings and obsessions. (…) The dialogue never asserts any truth and does not treat the characters as mouthpieces. It is through their vulnerability and despite the impossibilities that Rosa, Lüdo, Lukas and their cohorts reveal themselves and share their doubts, at the very heart of their megalomaniac quest fraught with pitfalls, which a simple sneeze can wipe out.”

Anne Diatkine – Libération

“With the gentleness and subtlety that characterise his theatre, David Geselson enchants us, turning science into poetry.”

Thierry Fiorile – France Info

“David Geselson weaves a fascinating tale about memory, love, science, history and the way some people try to use science to reinvent history. It’s a masterfully staged story, multiplying the ways in which the audience is addressed, the twists and turns, and the scenic inventions (…) Carried by six formidable actors (…), the show also makes masterful use of the talents of cellist Jérémie Arcache and designer Marine Dillard, tirelessly creating ephemeral forms from sand.”

Jean-Marie Wynants – Le Soir

David Geselson delivers a searing choral score that takes us from Jerusalem to Serbia via the Ukraine. Neandertal, through its characters inhabited by their fears and ideals, clashes with the eminently political issues at stake in the quest for our origins. (…) A vibrant polycephal narrative, carried along by the low tones of the cello, Neandertal weaves the fabric of a history of domination imprinted on the skin of each and every one of us. David Geselson dusts off History and sketches out the contours of the disappearance of our cousin, intimately echoing the disappearance that is hanging over our heads.”

Julie Vidal – Les Inrockuptibles

“An inventive, plural, playful theatre that passionately questions and connects us in a common narrative (…) The play creates a remarkably orchestrated theatrical score where the adventure of scientific research intertwines with the bumps of intimacy, but also with the dramas of History. (…) What is striking is the concrete and meaningful way in which the staging is woven into the relationships, into the very bodies, creating a theatre that is both playful and deeply moving, without any easy or sentimental effects, proceeding by ricochets and brushstrokes. (…) The play is a passionate and talented invitation to focus on what brings people together rather than what divides them. (…) Inspired by a joyful vitality despite the misfortunes and threats, the show is a great success.”

Agnès Santi – La Terrasse

“Neandertal investigates the doubts of identity and love. (…) Silence and secrets begin to speak, to the delight and joy of the audience. This is great, beautiful theatre.”

Amélie Blaunstein-Niddam – Toute la culture.com

“David Geselson creates a narrative that progresses quietly and whose magnitude needs no clamour to assert its omnipotence. Instead of spectacularity, he prefers the whisper of intimacy to the clash of reality. (…) Taking hushed, strategic steps forward, [he] creates a fascinating show. While its dramaturgy is limpid, its resonances are dizzyingly complex. They ricochet off a multitude of themes: paternity and filiation, memory and forgetting, bonding and emancipation, rationality and belief. (…) David Geselson excels at allusion without getting sidetracked into equivocation. It’s an extraordinary talent.”

Joëlle Gayot – Le Monde

“Watching for common genomes between Homo Sapiens and Neanderthals… A quest that is both scientific and philosophical, skilfully directed by David Geselson, where great history and intimate wounds intertwine. (…) On stage, earth, rock, bones thousands of years old… and Mahlerian musical accents that lift the soul. (…) Here the artist affirms his theatrical research and confirms his talent for telling the great story (in this case the very, very great one…) through the most intimate wounds.”

Emmanuelle Bouchez – Télérama

“The play twirls through scientific challenges without leading us astray. A virtuoso (…) David Geselson has a particular talent for going from one thing to another without the absurdity of the situations or the association of his ideas ever seeming gratuitous. He probably achieves this because each of the actors – all of whom are excellent – plunges us into the present, into shared feelings and obsessions. (…) The dialogue never asserts any truth and does not treat the characters as mouthpieces. It is through their vulnerability and despite the impossibilities that Rosa, Lüdo, Lukas and their cohorts reveal themselves and share their doubts, at the very heart of their megalomaniac quest fraught with pitfalls, which a simple sneeze can wipe out.”

Anne Diatkine – Libération

“With the gentleness and subtlety that characterise his theatre, David Geselson enchants us, turning science into poetry.”

Thierry Fiorile – France Info

“David Geselson weaves a fascinating tale about memory, love, science, history and the way some people try to use science to reinvent history. It’s a masterfully staged story, multiplying the ways in which the audience is addressed, the twists and turns, and the scenic inventions (…) Carried by six formidable actors (…), the show also makes masterful use of the talents of cellist Jérémie Arcache and designer Marine Dillard, tirelessly creating ephemeral forms from sand.”

Jean-Marie Wynants – Le Soir

David Geselson delivers a searing choral score that takes us from Jerusalem to Serbia via the Ukraine. Neandertal, through its characters inhabited by their fears and ideals, clashes with the eminently political issues at stake in the quest for our origins. (…) A vibrant polycephal narrative, carried along by the low tones of the cello, Neandertal weaves the fabric of a history of domination imprinted on the skin of each and every one of us. David Geselson dusts off History and sketches out the contours of the disappearance of our cousin, intimately echoing the disappearance that is hanging over our heads.”

Julie Vidal – Les Inrockuptibles

“An inventive, plural, playful theatre that passionately questions and connects us in a common narrative (…) The play creates a remarkably orchestrated theatrical score where the adventure of scientific research intertwines with the bumps of intimacy, but also with the dramas of History. (…) What is striking is the concrete and meaningful way in which the staging is woven into the relationships, into the very bodies, creating a theatre that is both playful and deeply moving, without any easy or sentimental effects, proceeding by ricochets and brushstrokes. (…) The play is a passionate and talented invitation to focus on what brings people together rather than what divides them. (…) Inspired by a joyful vitality despite the misfortunes and threats, the show is a great success.”

Agnès Santi – La Terrasse

“Neandertal investigates the doubts of identity and love. (…) Silence and secrets begin to speak, to the delight and joy of the audience. This is great, beautiful theatre.”

Amélie Blaunstein-Niddam – Toute la culture.com

 

Le Monde, Joëlle Gayot

Télérama, Emmanuelle Bouchez

Libération, Anne Diatkine

Le Soir, Jean-Marie Wynants

Les Inrockuptibles, Julia Vidal

La Terrasse, Agnès Santi

Toute la culture.com, Amélie Blaunstein-Niddam

France info “Culture d’été” par Thierry Fiorile

Webtheatre.fr, Véronique Hotte

Libération, Anne Diatkine

France Culture, Bienvenue au club par Mathilde Wagman 

Un fauteuil pour l’orchestre, Emmanuelle Saulnier-Cassa

Festival d’Avignon

06.07.2023 — 12.07.2023

Théâtre Dijon-Bourgogne – Centre dramatique national

28.11.2023 — 02.12.2023

Le Canal – Théâtre du pays de Redon, Scène conventionnée d’intérêt national art et création pour le théâtre

22.02.2024

Théâtre Gérard Philipe – CDN de Saint-Denis

28.02.2024 — 11.03.2024

Théâtre-Sénart, scène nationale

15.03.2024 — 17.03.2024

Le Gallia Théâtre, Scène conventionnée d’intérêt national art et création de Saintes

21.03.2024

Théâtre de Choisy-le-Roi, Scène conventionnée d’intérêt national art et création pour la diversité linguistique

04.04.2024

Comédie – Centre dramatique national de Reims

10.04.2024 — 12.04.2024

Comédie de Genève

22.05.2024 — 26.05.2024

Théâtre de Lorient

30.05.2024

Malakoff scène nationale

12.12.2024 — 13.12.2024

Théâtre du Rond-Point, Paris

06.02.2025 — 16.02.2025

MC2 : Maison de la culture de Grenoble 

19.02.2025 — 21.02.2025

ThéâtredelaCité – CDN Toulouse Occitanie  

20.03.2025 — 26.03.2025