Jan Lauwers / Needcompany
| Creation and adaptation: | Viviane De Muynck & Jan Lauwers |
| Text: | Based on the final chapter of Ulysses, by James Joyce |
| Writing: | Elke Janssens |
| Writing assistant: | Melissa Thomas |
| Costume: | Lot Lemm |
| Lighting design: | Ken Hioco and Jan Lauwers |
| Technical director: | Ken Hioco |
| Producer: | Marjolein Demey |
| Technician: | Tijs Michiels |
| French coach: | Anny Czupper |
| Production: | Needcompany |
| Co-production: | La Filature (Mulhouse) |
| Co-presentation: | Festival Temporada Alta (Girona), La Rose des Vents (Villeneuve d'Ascq), La Passerelle (Saint-Brieux) and Espaces Pluriels (Pau) |
| With the support of: | Tax Shelter of the Belgian Federal Government and the Flemish authorities |
“Viviane De Muynck transforms a dramatised reading into an hour of an exciting show”.Die Welt
In 1999, Viviane De Muynck and Jan Lauwers joined forces to take on the
writing of James Joyce. After a series of offensive and unfortunate
letters, the writer’s grandson Stephen J. Joyce expressly prohibited them
from using the material. In spite of this prohibition, some clandestine
readings were performed and mentioned in the press. Now that the copyright
on Joyce’s work has expired, the creators have finally been able to freely
perfom this piece.
Molly Bloom
presents the interior monologue of Leopold Bloom’s unfaithful wife. Molly
Bloom emerges as a symbol of femininity, she reveals her thoughts on the
men in her life, her current situation, her memories, her sense of humour,
her enthusiasm for life and how she faces loss and repentance.
For the actress Viviane De Muynck and the director Jan Lauwers, theatre is
a question of life or death. Their first meeting was during the work Isabella’s Room staged at the Autumn Festival in 2009. Both
artists share a passion for James Joyce, whose work they had already
approached in the show La Poursuite du vent. On this occasion they
have delved into the most profound section of Ulysses, one the
most important literary texts of the 20th century. More specifically, De
Muynck y Lawers have taken on one of the most controversial and juicy
chapters in the book: Molly Bloom’s soliloquy.
Here is an amazing, even scandalous immersion into the interior universe of
a woman who reveals all the details of her intimate sex life, either real
or fantasy. Molly is an unfaithful wife. A heroine without filters or
taboos, who closes Joyce’s monumental fiction with her deranged discourse.
To play her, we need a literal, extraordinary actress. That’s Viviane De
Muynck, directed by Jan Lauwers with the command and precision of a master
violinist.