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Rogerplanchon
Rogerplanchon
During the early 1980s, Roger Planchon was foremost among a new breed in
France of director-playwrights. Yvette Daoust ably demonstrates why this was
so in her 1981 study of his dual role in the theatre. Setting Planchon’s work in
its historical and theatrical context, Dr Daoust summarises his career up until
publication of this volume. In the first part of her book, Dr Daoust concentrates
on Planchon as director of the dramatists Vinaver, Adamov and Brecht; of
classic English plays - Shakespeare and Marlowe - and of the French classics.
Turning in the second part to Planchon the playwright, Daoust examines the
development of the social, political and aesthetic beliefs which determined the
contents and emphasis of his plays. She estimates the influence of Brecht and
the May 1968 événements on Planchon and describes his experiments with
different forms of dramatic entertainment in his efforts to capture a regular
working-class audience and keep the government subsidies flowing.
French director, actor, and playwright who spearheaded post-World War II
French theatre, finding new meanings in classical texts for more than 50 years
with his groundbreaking theatre company. Inspired by German dramatist
Bertolt Brecht and a belief that classical texts should be challenged, Planchon
staged daring productions, notably Shakespeare’s Henry IV (1957) and
Moliere’s George Dandin (1960) and Tartuffe (1962), that drew both great
criticism and praise. Planchon’s strong directing choices of light, movement,
staging, and costume elicited interpretations outside, and often unrelated to,
the playwright’s original message.