Éric Vigner
Quick Facts
Biography
Éric Vigner (born October 27, 1960 in Rennes, France) is a French stage director, actor and scenic designer. He is directing the CDDB-Théâtre de Lorient, Centre Dramatique National from 1996 to 2015.
Biography
Éric Vigner graduated from the University of Brittany, France, in the visual arts. He then studied in Paris, at the National School of theatre art and techniques (ENSATT) and at the National Drama Academy CNSAD. His consecutive qualifications naturally led towards directorship.
In 1990 he founded his own theater company SUZANNE M. Éric Vigner. In 1996 he was appointed by the Minister of Culture (France) to direct Brittany's Drama Centre, henceforth called the CDDB -Théâtre de Lorient. Since 1996 the graphic artists M/M Paris are in charge of the CDDB's visual communication. Besides Vigner's commitment to contemporary playwrights such as Marguerite Duras and Roland Dubillard, for which he was awarded the honour of Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in 1998, Vigner developed a new approach to the French classics - Racine's Bajazet (Comédie-Française 1995), Corneille's L’Illusion Comique (Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers 1996), Victor Hugo's Marion De Lorme (Théâtre de la Ville 1999), Molière's L’École des femmes (Comédie-Française 1999) and Shakeapeare's Othello (Odéon – Théâtre de l’Europe 2008).
He has chosen a course as a pioneer, an "’inter-lingual" navigator, building on dramatic art as common ground. He developed international collaborations to last over the years, searching for a genuine mutual cultural transmission. He directed in different languages and cultural backgrounds, in Korean The Bourgeois Gentleman by Molière and Jean-Baptiste Lully at the National Theater of Korea in Seoul (French-Korean Cultural Prize 2004), in Albanian The Barber of Seville by Beaumarchais (National Theater of Tirana, 2007), in American In the Solitude of Cotton Fields by Bernard-Marie Koltès (7 Stages Theater Atlanta 2008) for the U.S. Koltès Project, in English Gates to India Song based on The Vice Consul and India Song by Marguerite Duras (India 2013).
In October 2010, Vigner founded his international theater Academy. The Academy follows the principles of a little democracy and assembles seven young trilingual actors from seven cultural backgrounds - Morocco, Romania, Mali, Belgium, South Korea, Germany, Israel. They work on classical as well as contemporary forms of writing and will present La Place Royale by Corneille, Guantanamo by Frank Smith and La Faculté by Christophe Honoré.
Actor
- 1983: L'Instruction by Peter Weiss, directed by Robert Angebaud, Church in Saint-Étienne, Rennes
- 1984: La mort de Pompée by Pierre Corneille, directed by Brigitte Jaques, Lierre-Théâtre, Paris
- 1985: Fantasio by Alfred de Musset, directed by Vincent Garanger, CNSAD, Paris
- 1985: Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare, directed by René Jauneau, Festival de Valréas
- 1986: Elvire Jouvet 40 directed by Brigitte Jaques, International Tour, film by Benoît Jacquot 1988
- 1988: Chouans ! Film by Philippe de Broca
- 1988: L'Épreuve by Marivaux, directed by Jean-Pierre Miquel, Festival d'Avignon
- 1989: Sophonisbe by Pierre Corneille, directed by Brigitte Jaques, Théâtre national de Chaillot, Paris
- 1989: Horace by Pierre Corneille, directed by Brigitte Jaques, Théâtre national de Chaillot, Paris
- 1990: Le Misanthrope by Molière, directed by Christian Colin, Centre Dramatique National de Gennevilliers, Paris
Theatre productions
"The theater which I am interested in develops a form for the spectator to project himself into, to reinvent himself. For me, theater is not a place to come to in order to get answers, but a place where it is possible to revisit stories, our ones, the intimate, forgotten ones - in fact an unfamiliar place into which the spectator can enter. Theater needs to carry in itself its counterpart, its paradox : "to be or not to be", to be one thing and at the same time something else. For example, when Cézanne paints apples and says "It is with an apple that I want to amaze Paris", his subject is not the apple. His subject is painting. The same goes for theater. It is not the story we are actually attached to, but the theater itself."
Éric Vigner
- 1988: La Place royale by Pierre Corneille, CNSAD, Paris
- 1991: La Maison d'os by Roland Dubillard, Festival d'Automne, Grande Arche de la Défense, Paris
- 1992: Le Régiment de Sambre et Meuse based on the works of Alphonse Allais, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Jean Genet, Roland Dubillard, Georges Courteline, Franz Marc, Quartz Brest
- 1993: La Pluie d'été by Marguerite Duras, Masterclass CNSAD, Quartz Brest, National and International Tour
- 1993: Le soir de l'Obériou - Elizavieta Bam by Daniil Charms, Theater Laboratory Anatoli Vasiliev, Moscow
- 1994: Le Jeune Homme by Jean Audureau, Théâtre de la Commune Aubervilliers
- 1994: Reviens à toi (encore) (Looking at you (Revived) Again) by Grégory Motton, Odéon Theatre, Paris
- 1995: Bajazet by Jean Racine, Created at the Comédie-Française, Paris
- 1996: L'Illusion comique by Pierre Corneille, CDDB - Théâtre de Lorient, National Tour
- 1996: Brancusi contre États-Unis, un procès historique, 1928, adapted for the stage by Éric Vigner, 50th Festival d'Avignon, Centre Georges Pompidou, Tribunal de Pau
- 1998: Toi cour, moi jardin by Jacques Rebotier, CDDB - Théâtre de Lorient
- 1998: Marion Delorme (Hugo) by Victor Hugo, Théâtre de la Ville, Paris, National Tour
- 1998: La Douleur (The War) by Marguerite Duras, CDDB - Théâtre de Lorient
- 1999: L'École des femmes (The School for Wives) by Molière, Comédie-Française, Paris
- 2000: Rhinocéros by Eugène Ionesco, CDDB - Théâtre de Lorient
- 2001: La Bête dans la jungle The Beast in the Jungle, adapted by Marguerite Duras, CDDB - Théâtre de Lorient, Espace Go, Montreal, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
- 2002: Savannah Bay by Marguerite Duras, Comédie-Française, Paris, Nationale Tour
- 2003: ...Où boivent les vaches by Roland Dubillard, CDDB - Théâtre de Lorient, Théâtre du Rond-Point, Paris, Nationale Tour
- 2004: Le Jeu du kwi-jok ou Le Bourgeois gentilhomme (The Bourgeois Gentleman) by Molière and Jean-Baptiste Lully, National Theater of Korea in Seoul, Opéra-Comique, Paris
- 2006: Pluie d'été à Hiroshima, based on the works of Marguerite Duras La Pluie d'été and Hiroshima mon amour, 60th Festival d'Avignon, Cloître des Carmes, National Tour.
- 2007: Jusqu'à ce que la mort nous sépareby Rémi De Vos, Théâtre du Rond-Point, Paris
- 2007: Le Barbier de Séville (The Barber of Seville) by Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais, National Theater of Albania Tirana
- 2007: Savannah Bay by Marguerite Duras, created at Théâtre Espace Go, Montreal
- 2007: Débrayage by Rémi De Vos, CDDB - Théâtre de Lorient
- 2008: In the Solitude of Cotton Fields by Bernard-Marie Koltès, 7 Stages Theater in Atlanta
- 2008: Othello by William Shakespeare, CDDB - Théâtre de Lorient, Odéon Theatre, Paris
- 2009: Sextett by Rémi De Vos, CDDB - Théâtre de Lorient, Théâtre du Rond-Point, Paris, Espace Go, Montreal
- 2010: Le Barbier de Séville (The Barber of Seville) by Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais
- 2011: La Place Royale by Pierre Corneille, CDDB - Théâtre de Lorient
- 2011: Guantanamo by Frank Smith, Centre Dramatique National Orléans/Loiret/Centre
- 2012: La Faculté by Christophe Honoré, Festival d'Avignon
- 2013: Gates to India Song, based on the works of Marguerite Duras India Song and Le Vice-Consul, Festival Bonjour India, Delhi (Residence de France (ambassade)); Kolkata (Tagore House, Rabindra Bharati University); Mumbai (Prithvi Theatre et NCPA)
- 2014: "Tristan" by Éric Vigner
Opera productions
- 2000: La Didone, opera by Francesco Cavalli, musical director Christophe Rousset, Montpellier Opera
- 2003: L'Empio punito, opera by Alessandro Melani, musical director Christophe Rousset, Leipzig Opera
- 2004: Antigona, opera by Tommaso Traetta, Montpellier Opera, Chatelet Theatre, Paris
- 2013: Orlando, opera by George Frideric Handel, musical director Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Théâtre de Lorient.
Scenic designs
- 1983: L'instruction by Peter Weiss, directed by Robert Angebaud
- 1984: La Casa Nova by Carlo Goldoni, directed by Robert Angebaud
- 1984: Peinture-sur-Bois by Ingmar Bergman, directed by François Kergoulay
- 1985: Pusuda Le Guetteur by Cahit Atay, directed by François Kergourlay
- 1986: La Place royale by Pierre Corneille
- 1990: La Maison d'os by Roland Dubillard
- 1992: Le Régiment de Sambre et Meuse based on the works of Alphonse Allais, Louis-Ferdinand Céline, Jean Genet, Roland Dubillard, Georges Courteline, Franz Marc
- 1993: La Pluie d'été by Marguerite Duras
- 1993: Le soir de l'Obériou - Elizavieta Bam by Daniil Charms
- 1994: Le Jeune Homme by Jean Audureau
- 1994: Reviens à toi (encore) by Grégory Motton
- 1996: L'Illusion comique by Pierre Corneille
- 2000: Rhinocéros by Eugène Ionesco
- 2000: La Didone, opera composed by Francesco Cavalli, musical director Christophe Rousset
- 2001: La Bête dans la jungle adapted by Marguerite Duras, based on the play by James Lord and the novel by Henry James
- 2002: Savannah Bay by Marguerite Duras
- 2003: ...Où boivent les vaches by Roland Dubillard
- 2003: L'Empio punito, opera by Alessandro Melani, musical director Christophe Rousset
- 2004: Le Jeu du kwi-jok ou Le Bourgeois gentilhomme by Molière, music by Jean-Baptiste Lully
- 2004: Place des Héros (Heldenplatz) by Thomas Bernhard, directed by Arthur Nauzyciel at the Comédie-Française
- 2007: Jusqu'à ce que la mort nous sépare by Rémi De Vos
- 2007: Le Barbier de Séville (The Barber of Seville) by Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais
- 2007: Savannah Bay by Marguerite Duras
- 2007: Débrayage by Rémi De Vos
- 2008: In the Solitude of Cotton Fields by Bernard-Marie Koltès
- 2008: Othello by William Shakespeare
- 2009: Sextett by Rémi De Vos
- 2010: Le Barbier de Séville (The Barber of Seville) by Pierre Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais
- 2011: La Place Royale by Pierre Corneille
- 2011: Guantanamo by Frank Smith
- 2012: La Faculté by Christophe Honoré
- 2013: Gates to India Song, based on the works of Marguerite Duras India Song and Le Vice-Consul, Festival Bonjour India, Delhi (Residence de France (ambassade)); Kolkata (Tagore House, Rabindra Bharati University); Mumbai (Prithvi Theatre et NCPA)
- 2013: Orlando, opera composed by George Frideric Handel, musical director Jean-Christophe Spinosi, Théâtre de Lorient
- 2014: "Tristan" by Éric Vigner
The Academy
- 2011 : La Place Royale by Pierre Corneille, CDDB-Théâtre de Lorient
- 2011 : Guantanamo by Frank Smith, Centre Dramatique National d'Orléans
- 2012 : La Faculté by Christophe Honoré, Cours du Lycée Mistral, Festival d'Avignon