The Music
With « Le Roi se meurt » the CDF will launch its wish to integrate in its productions all different forms of Arts related to live shows.
Therefore, for the first time in its history, the CDF will musically illustrate a few sequences of the play. This is thanks to original works specially created for « Le Roi se meurt » by young composer
Nahmi Moon (minimum Design music).
« Le Roi se meurt » is my first composition for theatre play. Most of my work has been film music, but after reading the play, this was an opportunity I couldn't resist. When writing music for films, I brainstorm the feelings the music should give for each scene. I express this with emotions, ambience, colours, temperature, etc. Music for theatre felt much harder to create as there was no final image to brainstorm from. I attended a rehearsal but it was still difficult to sketch the music because there were many distractions and the direction wasn't yet finalised. Maybe it was a too early rehearsal, but the music is needed for the full rehearsals. The director also had a few requirements: the music should be regal, energetic, crazy and pompous. I became even more confused after that!
I went back to the book to immerse myself in Ionesco's descriptions. The « mise en scène » in « Le Roi se meurt » brought back old memories from an antique toy shop I once saw in Paris. I stopped in front of the shop window and was fascinated by the display of strange looking small toys. It was a surreal moment, especially, the figure of a colourful ceramic toy king looking very serious and rigid. When I re-read « Le Roi se meurt &», I wondered whether Ionesco observed the world from a distance and projected it to the stage in a similar way I observed the figures and displays through the glass of the Parisian toy shop. Surreal moments are happening everyday in our life, but you often don't realise them because you are too busy. You lack the opportunity to observe, and let these moments pass away. In « Le Roi se meurt », Ionesco exposes these surreal moments in everyday life and bring them to the stage.
The seriousness combined with ridicule and the attachment to life of the king in the book, and the serious looking toy king in the shop gave me the inspiration for the music. I wanted the music to sound serious, passionate and crazy. When you're passionate about an activity, it is extremely serious to you, but for an observer taking a step back it may appear ridiculous. I intend the music in this production to create layers of emotions: when you're transfixed into the world of the king, the music sounds regal, serious, overwhelming, even passionate, but when you observe the characters suddenly it sounds ridiculous, all at the same time. »
Eugène Ionesco (1909 - 1994)
In 1950, he publishes his first dramatic work, La Cantatrice Chauve, subtitled "anti-play". Although a flop when created, this parody would however leave its profound mark on contemporary theatre. Ionesco would then be known as one of the fathers of the « Theatre of the Absurd » - a drama form where nonsense and ridicule hold a metaphysical and satirical significance, which can be found in most of Ionesco's plays.
La Leçon (1950), Les Chaises (1952)... are two of them amongst many.
It is only in 1959 that Ionesco gained true recognition with the creation of Rhinocéros, by Jean-Louis Barrault, from the Odéon-Théâtre de France. It is also with this play that Ionesco introduces his double, Bérenger, to the public for the first time.
The one act play Le Roi se meurt, was created on December 15th 1962.
Often revived afterwards, this play has been directed by many well-known directors and became part of the Comédie Française's repertoire.
Eugène Ionesco is elected at the Académie française in 1970 and is also one of the few authors to have seen his works published within « La Pléïade » in his lifetime.
