A huge success when it premiered at the Opéra-Comique in 1900, Gustave Charpentier’s (1860-1956) “musical novel in four acts and five scenes” was panned by the critics, who considered its depiction of female desire and its heroine’s rebellion against her family to be scandalous. In this new reading, Christof Loy (Salomé) – famous for his meticulous productions, precise direction and refined aesthetic – has detected beneath the innovative theme of female emancipation an unspoken aspect of Charpentier’s libretto: the toxic family relationship in which Louise finds herself trapped, and the hold that her possessive – even abusive – father exerts over her with the complicity of her mother. Keen to tell the story without judging the characters, the director draws the audience into Louise’s subconscious, highlighting the darker side of a society that, far from emancipating its daughters, only offers them cheap romance as a deflection from the frustrations of their limited prospects.
as Louise
as Julien / Le Noctambule
as La Mère / La Première d’atelier
as Le Père, Le Chiffonnier
as Un Marchand d’habits / Le Pape des fous
as La Balayeuse
as Irma
as Gertrude
as Camille
as Madeleine
as Élise / La petite Chiffonnière
as Suzanne / La Glaneuse de charbon
as Blanche, La Plieuse de journaux
as L’Apprentie, Le Gavroche
as Le Bricoleur
