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NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE
A trashy American musical, an absurd cabaret, a techno oratorio of gender stereotypes: Marlène Saldana immerses herself in the unbridled mental universe of the heroine of Paul Verhoeven’s cult film to turn glitz and glitter into an antidote to violence and emptiness.
ABOUT THE WORK
Co-Presented with L’Alliance New York as a part of Crossing The Line Festival
“How to survive in a world populated by scum?”, Jacques Rivette once wrote of Paul Verhoeven’s film. In 1995, the Dutch director filmed the grandeur and decadence of Las Vegas as a premonitory metaphor for an America that gorges itself on crass vulgarity and crushes people. The incandescent and obscene film shows without comment the fate of a young woman who has come to try her luck in the city of gambling and easy money. She accepts all kinds of humiliations and becomes a predator herself, ready to do anything to survive. Poorly received by critics and audiences alike on its release, it is now recognised as a monument of queer counter-culture, camp and pop expressionism; a cult film in which lightness, glitter and glitz describe the struggle of classes and sexes and relationships of domination and submission. Showgirls is a major film about gender, its violence and its metamorphoses.
Showgirl premiered in 2021 at Théâtre Saint Gervais, Geneva. Its concept, text and performance are by Jonathan Drillet & Marlène Saldana, freely Inspired by Showgirls, Paul Verhoeven’s 1995 film, and has original music Rebeka Warrior.
PRODUCTION WARNINGS
Nudity
This production is performances in French with English subtitles
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Jonathan Drillet is an actor, playwright, author. Born in 1981 in Saint Brieuc, he trained at the École du Louvre and the Drama Conservatory of the 20th arrondissement of
Paris. He has since worked with Raimund Hoghe, Hubert Colas, Sanja Mitrovic, Julien Prévieux. He works today as a performer and artistic collaborator with Jonathan Capdevielle, Théo Mercier, and Phia Ménard. In 2019 he wrote the text for the play Affordable Solution for Better Living by Théo Mercier and Steven Michel, which received the Silver Lion at the Venice Dance Biennale.
Marlène Saldana is a multi-talented actress and director who played an ambivalent and voguing Jacques Demy in Christophe Honoré’s Les Idoles, as well as the more outlandish creatures that populate Sophie Perez and Xavier Boussiron’s shows. This time, she dives into the contradictory, bloated and delirious mental universe of Nomi, the heroine of Paul Verhoeven’s film. Between impotence and self-assertion, glitz and gloom, she struts about the stage as a powerful woman in a vulgar and crazy world. Like Nomi, she dances on a volcano that evokes the absurdity of Beckett’s Happy Days as much as a podium for a Copi-like performance. Her Showgirl is a grotesque monologue, a queer stand-up set, a techno oratorio exalted by the relentless score composed by Rebeka Warrior (Sexy Sushi, Kompromat, Mansfield.TYA): a lucid, joyful and nightmarish vision of a society sick of its patriarchal stereotypes and of a resurrection through derision, sequins and intoxication
Jonathan Drillet and Marlène Saldana founded their company The United Patriotic Squadrons of Blessed Diana, based in Paris, in 2011. In 2021, they created Showgirl at the Théâtre Saint Gervais, Geneva as part of the La Bâtie festival. In 2023, they continued their research on Verhoeven’s movie by going to Los Angeles and Las Vegas through the Villa Albertine program. They came back with images for their own movie, Starkness, which will premiere in September 2025 (Barberousse Films). Their next creation, a group piece for 10 dancers, called Les chats, will premiere at Théâtre du Nord (Lille) in November 2024, and play in the National Theatre Chaillot (Paris) in January 2025.
L’Alliance New York is an independent, not-for-profit organization committed to providing its audience and students with engaging French language classes and audacious multi-disciplinary programming that celebrates the diversity of francophone cultures and creativity around the world. A welcoming and inclusive community for all ages and all backgrounds, L’Alliance New York is a place where people can meet, learn, and explore the richness of our heritages and share discoveries. L’Alliance New York strives to amplify voices and build bridges from the entire francophone world to New York and beyond.
Crossing The Line is a citywide festival that engages international artists and New York City audiences in artistic discovery and critical dialogue to re-imagine the world around us. Crossing The Line is produced by L’Alliance New York in partnership with leading cultural institutions.
CREATIVE CREDITS
Freely Inspired by Showgirls, Paul Verhoeven (1995)
Concept, text and performance: Jonathan Drillet & Marlène Saldana
Original music: Rebeka Warrior
Stage design: Sophie Perez
Sculpture: Daniel Mestanza
Mix: Krikor
Make-ups, wigs, costumes: Jean-Biche
Lights: Fabrice Ollivier
Sound: Guillaume Olmeta
Stage management: Moustache & Jean-Marc L’Hostis
Assistant: Robin Causse
Translation: Nicholas Elliott
Subtitles Manager: Laura Aupert
Choreagraphic advisor: Mai Ishiwata
Production: Chloé Perol
Production, distribution, administration: Fabrik Cassiopée, Manon Crochemore & Mathilde Lalanne
Thank you Pierre Hardy, Philippe Quesne, Neonglazenails, Cédric Deboeuf Studio, Marc Chevillon, Jérôme Pique, Makoto Chill Okubo, Pierre Desprats, Warrior Records, Narcisse Agency, Elise Lahoussa and Paul Verhoeven
Executive production: The United Patriotic Squadrons of Blessed Diana
Co-production: Nanterre Amandiers Centre Dramatique National, Centre Chorégraphique National de Caen en Normandie, Comédie de Caen CDN de Normandie, Charleroi Danse, Théâtre Saint Gervais Genève, Les Subsistances – Lyon, La Rose des Vents Villeneuve d’Ascq, TAP Scène Nationale de Poitiers, La Comédie de Reims
RUN TIME
Approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes.
