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Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne

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Showgirl

Marlène Saldana/Jonathan Drillet

Showgirl

loosely based on "Showgirls", by Paul Verhoeven

A trashy American musical, an absurd cabaret, a techno oratorio of gender stereotypes: Marlène Saldana immerses herself in the unbridled mental universe of the heroine of Paul Verhoeven's cult film to turn glitz and glitter into an antidote to violence and emptiness.

“How to survive in a world populated by scum?”, Jacques Rivette once wrote of Paul Verhoeven's film. In 1995, the Dutch director filmed the grandeur and decadence of Las Vegas as a premonitory metaphor for an America that gorges itself on crass vulgarity and crushes people. The incandescent and obscene film shows without comment the fate of a young woman who has come to try her luck in the city of gambling and easy money. She accepts all kinds of humiliations and becomes a predator herself, ready to do anything to survive. Poorly received by critics and audiences alike on its release, it is now recognised as a monument of queer counter-culture, camp and pop expressionism; a cult film in which lightness, glitter and glitz describe the struggle of classes and sexes and relationships of domination and submission. Showgirls is a major film about gender, its violence and its metamorphoses.

Marlène Saldana is a multi-talented actress who played an ambivalent and voguing Jacques Demy in Christophe Honoré's Les Idoles, as well as the more outlandish creatures that populate Sophie Perez and Xavier Boussiron's shows. This time, she dives into the contradictory, bloated and delirious mental universe of Nomi, the heroine of Paul Verhoeven's film. Between impotence and self-assertion, glitz and gloom, she struts about the stage as a powerful and clownish woman in a vulgar and crazy world. Like Nomi, she dances on a volcano, a nipple that evokes the absurdity of Beckett's Happy Days as much as a podium for a Copi-like performance. Her Showgirl is a grotesque monologue, a queer stand-up set, a techno oratorio exalted by the relentless score composed by Julia Lanoë, aka Rebekka Warrior (Sexy Sushi, Kompromat, Mansfield.TYA): a lucid, joyful and nightmarish vision of a society sick of its patriarchal stereotypes and of a resurrection through derision, sequins and intoxication.

From 6 to 13 October 2021
Durée:
1h20
Salle René Gonzalez

Theatre/Dance/Music/Performance

Surtitled in english

Dates and times

Wednesday, October 6, 2021 - 7:30pm Wed 06.10 19h30
Season 21/22
Thursday, October 7, 2021 - 9:00pm Thu 07.10 21h00
Season 21/22
Friday, October 8, 2021 - 9:00pm Fri 08.10 21h00
Season 21/22
Saturday, October 9, 2021 - 5:00pm Sat 09.10 17h00
Season 21/22
Sunday, October 10, 2021 - 5:00pm Sun 10.10 17h00
Season 21/22
Tuesday, October 12, 2021 - 7:30pm Tue 12.10 19h30
Season 21/22
Wednesday, October 13, 2021 - 7:30pm Wed 13.10 19h30
Season 21/22


Meet the artists: Thur. 7.10 at the end of the show
Season'opening party: Fri. 8.10 with the ZRO21 collective

SMS CODE
SHOW

Prices
from Fr. 8.- to 45.-
For example: Young rate, student, apprentice, 16/25 y.o.: from Fr. 12.-

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Tickets, timetables and detailed information
Marlène Saldana/Jonathan Drillet

Directors

Marlène Saldana/Jonathan Drillet

Marlène Saldana est une actrice, danseuse et performeuse. Après une formation à La Scène sur Saône à Lyon, elle élabore une approche très libre de la scène, à l’aise autant dans le cabaret et le grotesque que dans des scènes de genre. Sa présence mêle un flegme ironique à un engagement physique et intellectuel entier, composant « un mélange précieux de dérision, de timidité et de solitude » comme dira d’elle Christophe Honoré. Elle travaille ensuite avec Yves-Noël Genod ou avec la Compagnie du Zerep ou comme danseuse pour Boris Charmatz ou Jérôme Bel. Elle collabore depuis 2010 avec Jonathan Drillet au sein de leur collectif The United Patriotic Squadrons of Blessed Diana. Elle a reçu le Prix 2019 de la meilleure actrice du Syndicat national de la critique pour son interprétation de Jacques Demy dans Les Idoles de Christophe Honoré créé à Vidy en septembre 2018. Cette saison, elle joue aussi dans Le Ciel de Nantes de Christophe Honoré.

Après une formation littéraire et théâtrale à Paris, Jonathan Drillet a entre autres collaboré avec Raimund Hoghe, Christophe Honoré, Hubert Colas, Sanja Mitrovic, Gerard&Kelly et Julien Prévieux. Il travaille aujourd'hui en tant qu'interprète, collaborateur artistique ou dramaturge avec Jonathan Capdevielle, Théo Mercier et Phia Ménard. Il crée ses propres pièces avec Marlène Saldana depuis 2010.

Learn more
© Narcisse Agency
© Jérôme Pique
© Jérôme Pique
© Narcisse Agency
vidy+

Meet the artists
Thursday 7.10
at the end of the show

Season's opening party
Friday 8.10

Credits

Création
Marlène Saldana
Jonathan Drillet

Musique
Rebeka Warrior
Mixée par Krikor

Conseil chorégraphique
Mai Ishiwata

Ongles
Tina Scott pour Neonglazenails

Décor
Sophie Perez

Sculpture
Daniel Mestanza

Création costumes, maquillage et perruques
Jean-Biche

Lumière
Fabrice Ollivier

Son
Guillaume Olmeta

Assistanat
Robin causse

Production, diffusion et administration
Chloé Perol

Avec
Marlène Saldana
Jonathan Drillet

Production
The United Patriotic Squadrons of Blessed Diana

Coproduction
Nanterre Amandiers Centre Dramatique National Centre Chorégraphique National de Caen en Normandie - Comédie de Caen CDN de Normandie - Charleroi Danse - Théâtre Saint Gervais Genève - Les Subsistances, Lyon - La Rose des Vents Villeneuve d'Ascq - TAP Scène Nationale de Poitiers - La Comédie de Reims

Avec le soutien de
Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne ▼

Press and Pro
Consult and download various documents related to the show: press file, HD photos, press reviews and more.

Evening program

Download ZIP

Photos HD

Download ZIP
8.10 party

Théâtre de Vidy X ZRO21
8 October 2021
From 10pm to 4am with

DJ: Santo, TshiTshi, YoungTrap
VJ: Aladdine3000

Free shuttle to go back downtown

Press reviews
Showgirl - Libération
20 September 2021
 

"«Showgirls» : Marlène Saldana, vedette la première"

 

Read more
Showgirl - Le Monde
19 September 2021
 

"Des « Idoles » à « Showgirl », Marlène Saldana ne se refuse rien"

Read more

Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne

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Administration +41 21 619 45 44

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