Playwright: Constance de Saint Remy
Partner: Théâtre Ouvert
Twinned playwright: Magdalena Barile
Co-funded by the European Union
Duration: 4 days
Participants: students from the Université Paris 8 Vincennes – Saint-Denis
Location: School at Saint-Denis, Paris
Time: 7, 14, 21, 28 February 2025
What is the purpose of a sacrifice? And for whom?
Social, political, economic, religious, or cultural, the function of sacrifice has varied over time, events, and civilizations. It is part of world history and early narratives, in various forms, symbolic or literal. It even lies at the origin of certain foundational myths.
Within theatrical writing, and more broadly in literature, there is an attachment to sacrifice. Whether divine, political, or moral, there comes a moment when a character must sacrifice their life, soul, honor, love, or children for a greater cause, some sort of metaphysical reason, or transcendence. Sacrifice implies the idea of the sacred and a movement of verticality.
To what extent is the sacrificial act present in contemporary writing? Is it still being written? Has it transformed? Is it still relevant?
The workshop will be designed in collaboration with the Italian author Magdalena Barile, whose work focuses on myth retellings and who will join the workshop in Paris for three days. It will involve writing, improvisation, and acting and may culminate in a presentation based on the participants’ work. Before starting, they will all be invited to bring material on what the subject evokes for them, in order to build a common repository. The first day will consist of introductions, pooling the material prepared in advance, and brainstorming around the notion of sacrifice, the figure of Iphigenia, and the inherent themes of the myth. It will also serve to determine the form of the work, whether collective writing, individual work, or group work, depending on the number of participants and their desires. The following three days will be dedicated to the actual writing process, potentially including work on stage. The last day will focus on structuring and arranging the produced texts, in preparation for a possible presentation.
