20 000 lieues sous les mers ・ Comédie-Française

When younger, Christian Hecq dreamed of becoming a physicist. He is fascinated by astrophysics and old mechanical devices, a scientific curiosity that was first aroused in him by reading Jules Verne.

This sociétaire of the Comédie-Française also has a passion for puppetry. He learned the art of puppet manipulation and then met Valérie Lesort who practices the art of puppet-making. Together, they decided to adapt 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, a classic of fantasy literature. And indeed, what better medium is there than puppetry to represent the fish, giant octopi and luminous jellyfish of the ocean deep? “On stage, a puppet enables an actor to perform movements, expressions and accelerations that his or her body are incapable of doing; it extends and multiplies physical expression. We want to share our experience with these fabulous actors, to lead them into a theatrical form that is rarely practised in our great House.” Combining elements from black light theatre, puppetry and hybrid puppets, the sea monsters become disconcertingly realistic and seem to levitate. This extraordinary technical expertise will be channelled into a work that has left no generation indifferent since its publication in 1869/1870.

Creative team

Adaptation et mise en scène : Christian Hecq et Valérie Lesort
Scénographie et costumes : Éric Ruf
Lumières : Pascal Laajili
Son : Dominique Bataille
Création des marionnettes : Carole Allemand et Valérie Lesort
Assistante à la scénographie : Delphine Sainte-Marie
Assistante aux costumes : Siegrid Petit-Imbert
Fabrication des marionnettes : Carole Allemand, Sophie Coeffic, Laurent Huet, Valérie Lesort, Sébastien Puech
Leds et fibres optiques : François Cerf
Conseil à la manipulation des marionnettes : Sami Adjali
Fabrication du décor : Atelier François Devineau