La Musica – Zwischen Ihr und Ihm (La Musica – Between Her and Him)

This new work by the Italian director Silvia Costa combines two plays by Marguerite Duras, the grande dame of French literature. While in «La Musica», on the evening after their divorce, a couple take a realistic look back at the life they shared and imagine what might have happened if they had stayed together, «The English Lover» presents the nightmare version of the end of a relationship, in which violence that has been smouldering for years erupts.

An anonymous interviewer attempts to reconstruct how it came about that Claire Lannes finally broke out from the prison of her marriage. He questions the couple individually and reveals the great discrepancies between their views of the life they shared. Silvia Costa’s poetic and richly visual stage language presents an image of love’s darkest cravings and a woman’s liberation from her schematic role in patriarchal society.

«There are many things we wish for but keep out of our lives. Passions, for example. And for this reason, the story of Claire Lannes has always fascinated me» says Silvia Costa. «In my production, I would like to emphasise the difficult distinction between reality and dreams, truth and invention, between what is ‹normal› and what is ‹stupid› or ‹insane›».

Following «A Girl’s Story» by Annie Ernaux, which has been in repertoire at the Residenztheater since 2021, the theatre and opera director, who was named a Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres by the French Ministry of Culture in 2022, now creates her second production for the Residenztheater.