"The Jungle Book" as a psychedelic musical at the Théâtre Châtelet
Audio 01:50
“The Jungle Book”, after Rudyard Kipling.
Direction, sets and lights: Robert Wilson.
Music and lyrics: CocoRosie.
At the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris.
© Lucie Jansch
Text by: Carmen Lunsmann
2 min
At just 80 years old, Robert Wilson goes back to childhood.
The tireless Texas director revisits “The Jungle Book”.
The cult work of Briton Rudyard Kipling from 1894 takes on the appearance of a psychedelic musical spiced up by songs by the American group CocoRosie.
On display at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris, until November 20, this “Jungle Book” aims to open its pages to all audiences.
Advertising
Read more
It is a most free adaptation
of the Jungle Book
that Robert Wilson has concocted by reworking the laws of the jungle in his own way.
Known for his stagings that are both flamboyant and refined, playful and demanding, the American star makes Baloo bear and Bagheera the panther sway to the hip-hop, folk and electro rhythms of CocoRosie and transforms the child's initiatory story. savage in kaleidoscope of stylized paintings.
The young Yuming Hey of Chinese, Malagasy and French origins embodies the little man raised by wolves.
Mowgli and the ode to tolerance
"
He's a bit of a peculiar Mowgli,"
says Yuming Hey,
a bit of a puppet, a bit of androgynous, a bit of a devil.
After, Bob Wilson in his direction, he really has a very strong, very marked universe;
it's a bit like a cartoon where we would see each drawing, second by second, each movement moving little by little.
"
Against a background of simple, but evocative decor, the story is told in electric lights and Chinese shadows where everything mingles: good and evil, ferocity and humor, in order to sing an ode to tolerance that speaks to everything the world.
“The Jungle Book”, after Rudyard Kipling.
Direction, sets and lights: Robert Wilson.
Music and lyrics: CocoRosie.
At the Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris.
© Lucie Jansch
►
The Jungle Book
, after Rudyard Kipling.
Direction, sets and lights: Robert Wilson.
Music and lyrics: CocoRosie.
Until November 20 at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris.
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Theater
France
Culture
Music