Lorenzaccio

In 16th-century Florence, everyone is calling for the murder of Alexander de Medici, a local ruler who is kept in power by the German Emperor Karl and the Roman Catholic Pope. A ruler who feasts and drinks, sends rebellious subjects out of the country, deprives local merchant families of their power and fuels frustration. His cousin Lorenzo, from another branch of the family, once missed his appointment with history as well as claim to the throne by unsuccessfully attacking the Pope as an adolescent in a drunken stupor. Since then, he has been the disgrace of the family and is not taken seriously by anyone, including Alexander, who greedily depends on him to arrange his love affairs. Lorenzo seems harmless, but deep inside he is growing frustrated by the loss of ideals and inaction. At least once, he wants to carry out a great deed that will take him out of the shadow of history and bring him his mother’s love again.

Entirely in the tradition of Hamlet (Shakespeare), Figaro (Beaumarchais) or Rigoletto (Victor Hugo), the central theme in Musset's Lorenzaccio is the individual rebelling against the prevailing abuse of power. But what is the motive here? The public interest, or self-interest? In Lorenzaccio, Musset brings this question to the fore, knocking history’s Brutuses who enjoy heroic status off their pedestal.

In the Comp. Marius version of Lorenzaccio, Musset’s text is interwoven with 'Une conspiration en 1537' written by his lover, Georges Sand, which served as the basis for his play. With more than 30 characters, as many scenes and different locations, Lorenzaccio is a typical play from the nineteenth-century Romantic period. Comp. Marius strips content and characters, relationships and situations to the bone and hands them over to the interplay of five actors on an empty stage floor. Theatre with minimal means and maximum imagination, focusing on space, language, beauty, humour and consideration for each other.

Texte ‘Lorenzaccio’, Alfred (de) Musset ; ‘Une conspiration en 1537’, Georges Sand
Adaptation Waas Gramser
Actors Dagmar Dierick, Lukas De Wolf, Waas Gramser, Kris Van Trier, Roy Aernouts
Costumes Kris Van Trier, Waas Gramser, Elise Goedgezelschap, Sofie D‘Hoore 
Lighting Luc Schaltin 
Technique Stevie Van Haver, Johannes Vochten 
Production Jeroen Deceuninck, Kevin Vandevyvere 
Coproduction Nuits de Fourvières Lyon, Perpodium 
Premiere Nuits Fourvière, Lyon 24 June 2023