the importance of being georges bataille
performance
in this performance, where the interplay between performance and writing is intimately linked to radical political philosophies, bonneville draws inspiration from the life and work of french philosopher and intellectual georges bataille (1897-1962). bataille’s diverse body of work, spanning essays, novels, and poetry, delved into themes of eroticism, mysticism, surrealism, and transgression. here, bonneville continues the exploration, seeking to cultivate a post-christian body intertwined with a dionysian materialism capable of contorting, fracturing, and transcending itself. preferring sensorial experience over rational explanation, bonneville perpetuates the mourning of the “human figure” as an ongoing and unresolvable process, contrasting with bataille’s aspiration or belief in its resolution.
credits
director and performer: mi̶g̶u̶e̶l̶ bonneville. co-creators and performers: afonso santos, vanda cerejo, catarina feijão, francisco rolo. original soundtrack: luís kasprzykowski. soundscape: blackbambi. sound design: miguel mendes. costume design: mariana sá nogueira. lighting design: nuno patinho. set design: nuno tomaz. outside eye: pedro arrifano, miguel branco. visual content: joana linda. press office: sara cunha. executive production: cristina correia. production: teatro do silêncio. co-production: teatro municipal do porto rivoli & são luiz teatro municipal. support: citemor, residências da boavista / polo cultural das gaivotas. this project was financed by governo de portugal/secretaria de estado da cultura/dgartes.
premiere
14th – 19th of may 2019, são luiz teatro municipal, lisbon, portugal
tour
7th – 8th of june 2019, rivoli teatro municipal do porto, portugal