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A Rigoletto by Verdi transformed to open the opera to blind or deaf children

2022-02-15T18:01:48.101Z


As for their 10,000 comrades invited to the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, 90 young disabled people were able to access the lyrical art through touch workshops or song translation.


Rigoletto

gets a makeover.

For its fifteen performances taking place from February 4 to 16 at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Giuseppe Verdi's seventeenth opera, renamed

Un Rigoletto - Les Mystères du Théâtre

, devotes twelve of them to schoolchildren.

Translated into French, the work is reduced to 1 hour 15 minutes - without intermission - instead of the usual 3 hours.

To make it all the more captivating for young audiences, from elementary and middle school, the opera is participatory.

Thus, each child is invited to sing from their seat at eight well-defined times.

At the appropriate times, the conductor Victor Jacob then turns to the room and sets the pace.

An opera accessible to the blind and the deaf

The performance hall on Avenue Montaigne makes every effort to ensure that opera is an art accessible to all.

Of the 10,000 children totaled over the twelve performances, 60 were deaf and hard of hearing, 30 blind.

For them, a visit to the empty theater was organised,

"in order to immerse themselves in the spaces"

, specifies Isabelle Antoine, head of public groups at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.

Various specific workshops result from this, such as the touch of costumes, allowing you to

"discover the characters"

, or discovering behind the scenes and sets.

Activate the windmill, feel the vibrations of the rain machine, touch the material of the costumes while feeling their weight on the shoulders... The sensations are increased tenfold for the blind in particular.

They spring up again once seated in the room, equipped with headphones providing them with a simultaneous audio description of the opera.

Read alsoIn Montpellier, the opera opens to the deaf and hard of hearing thanks to vibrating vests

For the deaf and hard of hearing, the singing workshops have been adapted into "chansigns", in partnership with the Scop Liesse de Rouen, a French sign interpreting service.

“At the beginning, we invite the teachers with an artistic team, including the director, the conductor and the vocal coach.

Then, they benefit from a singing workshop to be able to immerse themselves in the songs that they must teach to the pupils”,

specifies Isabelle Antoine.

An educational file including CD and texts is also given to them.

Subsequently, these songs could be repeated thanks to a video, fully translated into sign language.

Theater in the theater

Rigoletto

, composed in 1851, was inspired by Victor Hugo's play

Le Roi s'amuse

, a critique of the nobility in five acts, which had appeared twenty years earlier.

But how do we talk about the themes of murder, revenge and violence against women that punctuate the plot for children?

The current staging, signed Manuel Renga, has been modified for the occasion, but wants to be faithful to the story.

What Isabelle Antoine ensures.

"The challenge of participatory opera is that in an hour and a quarter, you have to tell the entire story of the opera, while adapting to young audiences"

.

On stage, the story of

Rigoletto

is told by “La compagnie du Duc”, a troupe traveling from theater to theatre.

“to take some distance from this somewhat dramatic story”.

The staging is based on the play of lights as well as the multitude of accessories.

Marion Kerno

The staging is also

"speaking".

Mounted with Italian canvases and accessories scattered on stage, the play of lights gives it color.

“There is a great strength to this show.

This very dark story is very popular with children.

These are human emotions that they like very much

.

The feedback is positive from the teachers, who underline the educational side of the opera, thus making it possible to

"work on the vocabulary, on the story and to recontextualize the art"

.

Five other participatory operas have previously taken place at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées.

In April 2021, an adaptation of Gaetano Donizetti's

The Elixir of Love

only had children singing.

An initiative that will be repeated next year, with the desire to reach the widest possible audience

“thanks to very close partners”

, including teaching staff and specialized institutes.

“It's a co-construction.

We work empirically with them, by discussing, by understanding their problems, by adapting to the children.

We do tailor-made every time

.”

Source: lefigaro

All life articles on 2022-02-15

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