ARCHIVES 2000 / Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh is the first written epic in our history. Its first version, inscribed on clay tablets, dates back to three thousand years before Christ. The hero of the story, Gilgamesh, revolted by the death of his friend, wants to acquire immortality. His voyage to the land of the gods is a terrifying journey, and on his return he comes not with eternal life, but with wisdom. This prodigious tale from Mesopotamia, from pre-biblical times that describes the adventure of humanity, is being presented in its entirety at Avignon this year by Pascal Rambert who echoes the central cry of the story - how can we make life less inconsistent ? The reverberations of the wars and wanderings of our own time find a natural place in a performance that the director thought of during the Gulf War in 1990-1991, and as a reaction to that conflict. He has brought together actors from three different countries, speaking three different languages: Syrians, Americans and French actors. Consequently, after three separate stages of work in Damascus, New York and Marseille, the performers bring forward a reconciliation between enemies and make the songs of violence and peace that have been sung since time immemorial their own, and that were written by unknown story-tellers, guiding us through our modern darkness.