Judith Chemla holds this role until March 19 at the Bouffes du Nord theater in Paris.
She is a complete, unclassifiable artist, Judith Chemla, actress, musician and lyrical singer is “Mélisande” at the Bouffes du Nord theater, in a version between opera and theater of the work of Maeterlinck and Debussy. This adaptation, very free, signed Florent Hubert and Richard Brunel, is called Melisande, as if Pelléas was only a supporting role. It is she who burns the stage with her passion, a passion for living outside this dystopian universe, where men dominate women with their own weakness.
“We feel a fairly necrotic world with these men who want to appropriate it and then her who remains elusive like that”
Judith Chemlaat franceinfo
“I felt like it was a victim journey, but, in fact, it’s the other way around. It’s a light that we try to crush and that no one manages to crush.enthuses the actress. The world is not ready to move at the end of this play and I think ours is moving.”
“Sacrificial heroines”
And she says it publicly that the world must move, Judith Chemla who suffered domestic violence. On stage, she literally inhabits her lyrical characters: Dido, Traviata, Mélisande, whose fatal destiny she reverses into a life drive. “Despite everything, they are still sacrificial heroines. It deeply questions the place of women and what has been expected of them throughout history. There is a sacrifice, but there is a total light that surrounds it”admits Judith Chemla.
It is in these hybrid forms, modest and brilliant at the same time, between opera and theater that Judith Chemla is most accurate and in this particular setting of the Bouffes du Nord, where she embodied all these roles.
“We get rid of conventions, we get rid of postures. For me, we are where the music is formed. This theater is unique in the world and to see people so close, it’s very strong. There are a lot of stories and I’ve been playing here for twelve years, it’s really beautiful”she acknowledges.
Recently seen in the movie The great magic by Noémie Lvovsky, Judith Chemla impresses with the choice of her often tragic roles.