La Dame de la Mer

Presented by Le Théâtre de l'épée de bois

La Dame de la mer is one of Henrik Ibsen's most mysterious works. The action takes place in summer, by a fjord, in a house surrounded by omnipresent nature, where Doctor Wangel, his two daughters, Bolette and Hilde, and his new wife, Ellida, live. The atmosphere is imbued with silences and unspoken words; a fragile balance seems to reign. Every day, Ellida goes to the sea in an unchanging ritual. Until the return of the Stranger, a sailor to whom she was engaged ten years earlier, at the point of Brattamer. This love resurfacing from the past awakens in her, with an irrepressible force, both attraction and terror. Strikingly modern, blending reality and the supernatural, La Dame de la mer questions the power of desire, female emancipation, and freedom, a source of inner rebirth. Ibsen composes a score where the sea becomes a primitive force that attracts, reveals, and transforms. Between the magnetic call of the open sea and family roots, Ellida must choose. A theatrical, visual, musical, and choreographic creation performed by seven actors.

Text: Henrik Ibsen

Based on the translation by Maurice Prozor

Adaptation: Géraldine Martineau

Dramaturgy: Jean-Louis Besson

Directed by: Alain Batis

Set design: Sandrine Lamblin

Cast: Pierre Cachia; Anthony Davy; Laurent Desponds; Sylvian Dieuaide, Yasmine Haller or Eglantine Perreau; Emilie Lehuraux; Julie Piednoir

Choreography: Amélie Patard

Musical creation: Cyriaque Bellot

Costume design: Jean-Bernard Scotto

Lighting design, and lighting management: Nicolas Gros

Hair and make-up: Judith Scotto

Sound management: Cyriaque Bellot, Garance Perachon- Monnier