Paris’s Théâtre du Châtelet reopened last autumn after a two-year restoration, before being forced to close again because of the Covid-19 pandemic. But undeterred, this week the theatre serves up a digital festival, Après, Demain, featuring a couple of new creations, existing dance and music performances, short films and talks (in French, bien sûr) and previews of major commissions to come.
The opening weekend’s offerings asked for differing amounts of commitment: Ten minutes for Brooklyn street dancers FlexN, six hours for Stockhausen’s epic opera Mittwoch aus Licht. It’s definitely worth putting aside that 10 minutes (recordings remain online until the end of the festival). Reggie Gray’s flexing crew, FlexN, and their powerfully political dance rooted in young black America could not be more pertinent. Gray’s Loud Silence, filmed on the bridges and streets of New York, intersperses footage of Black Lives Matters protests with forthright, frustrated, imploring solos from his dancers, who move with rangy grace, muscular impact, and the crooked contortions of the style known as bone-breaking. A shorter second film, Black, by Cal Hunt, is set to the song of the same name by British rapper Dave. Its movement is like a stream of consciousness that flows with a soft pop, deftly picking out lyrics with mime – lyrics that are powerful enough that Hunt knows his dance doesn’t have to shout.
The six hours of Stockhausen are less immediately potent but full of spectacle. Mittwoch aus Licht brings together four works written in the late 90s (including the Helicopter String Quartet, performed in the air in four choppers) but not premiered together until 2012 by Birmingham Opera Company, where this recording is from. There’s plenty of absurd imagery – a camel drinking from a giant wine bottle, a trombonist jumping into a paddling pool – but it’s really an epic sonic journey through buzz and drone, twittering, whispering voices and shortwave radio sounds, somewhere between sci-fi and spiritual cult. Some of it takes place in blackout with the idea to be immersed in sound – your laptop speakers will not do it justice. It’s the kind of experience best surrendered to in person.
Elsewhere there’s the Châtelet’s hit-and-miss circusy reopening show from last year, and New Order’s triumphant 2017 gig from Manchester international festival, featuring a 12-piece synth orchestra and excitedly animated lighting by artist Liam Gillick. The inclusion of shows from Birmingham and Manchester reflects the background of the theatre’s British artistic director, Ruth Mackenzie, but also demonstrates the vibrancy of the UK’s arts scene, an industry hopefully pulled back from the brink of collapse by a £1.57bn government rescue package. France’s theatres and artists are generally well supported, and still to come in this festival are tastes of commissions the Parisian audience has to look forward to: Malian musician Rokia Traoré sharing songs inspired by the great South African singer Miriam Makeba, a work-in-progress film from dance provocateur Boris Charmatz, and a preview of a new music/visual art work by techno legend Jeff Mills.
You can also see a new music video created in the empty theatre by dance collective La Horde, a recording of French hip-hop competition Battle Pro, an online nightclub, Handel’s oratorio Saul and a concert by Sebastien Tellier with a tribute to drummer Tony Allen. It all shows an eclectic artistic director at work, seriously whetting appetites to get back in the theatre and on the Eurostar.
