The Théâtre Gérard Philipe 
Alain Ollivier, Director
Alain Garlan, Assistant Director

 


 

 

 

photo Bellamy

 

 

 

 

 

Centre dramatique national
de Saint-Denis
59 Boulevard Jules Guesde
93207 Saint-Denis cedex
France

Tel + 33(0) 1 48 13 70 10
Fax + 33(0) 1 42 43 63 48

Info & Booking
Tel + 33(0) 01 48 13 70 00

E-mail

 

The History of the Théâtre Gérard Philipe de Saint-Denis

In 1902 the town commissioned the construction of a festival hall on the Boulevard Jules Guesde in Saint-Denis. The metallic frame was designed by the Eiffel building company. This hall was then curiously remodelled with dressing rooms, galleries and balconies to house a variety of activities : wrestling matches, plays or operas and operettas, medal and prize attribution ceremonies, Saturday night dances, galas and political meetings : a polyvalent building which, after various modifications, has become today the Théâtre Gérard Philipe.

The early 1950s
The Théâtre National Populaire experience brought the theatre art form, this " inaccessible luxury ", to the working class suburbs, and Jean Vilar and his actors found themselves performing in this town hall with disastrous accoustics to an empty house. Hardly a soul for l'Avare by Molière, no more for Büchner's La Mort de Danton. This venture lasted no longer than a few performances.

In 1960, the Theatre was named Gérard Philipe, paying tribute to the actor who had died the year before
1960-1966. Jacques Roussillon was the director of the theatre.
In 1963, he pulled the theatre out of obscurity with Arthur Adamov's Printemps 71, directed by Claude Martin.
At that time, the metro stopped at the brink of the suburbs. Shuttle systems, reasonably priced tickets, adaptable hours, helped create and convince an audience in the working class.
In 1965 the theatre was remodelled, the stage was enlarged, the seats were changed and the house repainted.

1966 - 1976 José Valverde succeeded Jacques Roussillon.
José Valverde was a former assistant and actor in Jean-Marie Serreau's theatre company. He had also co-founded the Franc Théâtre company, which had set out to roam the suburbs. He left Saint-Denis in 1976 after ten years of team work (the company had nine permanent actors), of dreams, of hope, of cultural activity in business firms, in schools, in public markets and in working class housing developments. On the theatre's stage José Valverde's productions alternated with those of Jacques Luccioini and his company, the Centre lyrique populaire de France.
In 1968 the theatre was torn down and then renovated, transformed and technically improved.

1976 - 1986 René Gonzalez became the director of the Théâtre Gérard Philipe (1)
After graduating from the Ecole de la rue Blanche (ENSATT),René Gonzalez worked in José Valverde’s company, as an actor, as an administrator and later as co-director in charge of programming. When José Valverde resigned, René Gonzalez was immediately assigned the job of director of the theatre, which was then uniquely subsidised by the town (the state grant from the ministery of culture had been withdrawn, for at the time it was given to directors of companies and not theatres). René Gonzalez then rapidly developed means of production, and with an excellent choice of productions, he turned the Théâtre Gérard Philipe into one of the greatest theatres of the Paris area. He helped the discovery of Le Groupe TSE (Alfredo Arias) with the first version of Peines de cœur d’une chatte anglaise, and produced La Bête dans la jungle with`Delphine Seyrig and Sami Frey ; he programmed Klaüs-Mikaël Grüber with Sur la grand-route by Chekhov at the Spanish chapel in La Plaine Saint-Denis and Dell’Inferno, directed by André Engel, performed on the railway tracks between the Gare du Nord station and La Plaine Saint-Denis.
During that period, he travelled all over Europe and brought back new productions unknown in France by Giovanna Marini, Hauser Okater (Les Chiens Mexicains), Mike Figgis, Jan Fabre, Mechtild Grossmann, Megumi Satsu, etc.
A number of artists and singers among which Michel Hermon, Anna Prucnal, Richard Bohringer, performed in the “ Terrier ” (a small basement cabaret house in the theatre), while on the main stage appeared great actors such as Gérard Desarthe, Philippe Clévenot, David Warrilow, Alain Ollivier. or new directors made their debuts such as Saskia Cohen-Tanugi with her refreshing and innovative Merchant of Venice starring Denis Lavant.

January 1st, 1983, the Théâtre Gérard Philipe became a Centre Dramatique National de création et de diffusion dramatiques.

1986 - 1989 Daniel Mesguich succeeded René Gonzalez. He was 33 years old, had studied with Antoine Vitez and Pierre Debauche at the National Conservatory, and had founded a theatre company combined with an acting school called Le Théâtre du Miroir.

1989 - 1997 Jean-Claude Fall succeeded Daniel Mesguich as director of the Théâtre Gérard Philipe.
He came from the Théâtre de la Bastille, where since 1982 he had programmed the most inventive proposals in contemporary theatre at the time.
He directed four Chekhov plays - Ivanov, Platonov, The Three Sisters, Uncle Vania - all in one single season. In 1992, Chef-lieu, by Alain Gautré ; in 1993, le Procès de Jeanne d’Arc, textes by Bertolt Brecht, Anna Seghers and Charles Péguy, and then Tempête sur le pays d’Egypte by Maurice Taszman, adapted by Pierre Laville ; Voyage au pays sonore ou l’art de la question by Peter Handke in 1995, Hercule Furieux and Hercule sur l’Oeta by Sénèque in 1996.
Jean-Claude Fall initiated the idea of a director and a company of actors as part of the permanent staff and technical crew of the theatre. He thus established a cycle of “ residences ” with :
1991-1994 Stanislas Nordey and his company
1992-1994 Catherine Anne
1994-1996 Le Théâtre Cazaril (Antoine Caubet, Elisabeth Moreau, Claire Aveline and Thierry Paret)
1996-1997 Le Théâtre des Lucioles
He also programmed festivals among which Africolor (a three evening African music festival during the Christmas season directed by Philipe Conrath, with musicians from Africa, Madagascar, and the island of Reunion) and Enfantillages en Seine-Saint-Denis, a youth theatre festival for “ little and big people ” which reached its 8th year in 1997, in collaboration with the Cargo of Grenoble.
Since 1993 the large house has been called Roger Blin and the old stage curtain has been replaced by a famous “ Carré Basculé ” (tilted square), six meters high and ten meters wide, by the artist François Morellet.

Stanislas Nordey succeeded Jean-Claude Fall in 1998.
He returned to the Théâtre Gérard Philipe after three years spent with the actors of his company in residence at the Théâtre de Nanterre-Amandiers.
He developed a project called “ Théâtre Citoyen” and staked the success of his project on keeping the theatre open all year long, on a unique ticket price of 50 francs, and on the production and programming of young companies and new playwrights.
In Passions civiles (2), published by the Editions La Passe du Vent, Stanislas Nordey and Valérie Lang present their project and their analysis of the crisis years at the Théâtre Gérard Philipe de Saint-Denis.
Stanislas Nordey voluntarily left the direction of the Théatre Gérard Philipe on December 31st, 2001.

Alain Ollivier has been nominated director of the theatre as of january 1st 2002.

Notes
(1) Du Théâtre comme il n’était pas à prévoir mais comme il est à espérer. Le Théâtre Gérard Philipe de Saint-Denis. By Dominique Darzacq. Editions Solin.1985
(2) The “ Manifeste pour un Théâtre Citoyen , ” 1998 is included in this edition.