Opera

The Great Yes, The Great No

LUMA Arles presents The Great Yes, The Great No in partnership with the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence.

March 1941: a cargo ship leaves Marseille for Martinique with, on board, several artists and intellectuals escaping from Vichy France, including André Breton, Claude Lévi-Strauss and the Cuban artist Wifredo Lam.

This real event takes a magical turn when Charon, the ferryman of the dead who has now been promoted captain, rearranges space-time and invites other celebrated figures to join this new kind of ark, an allegory of all the forced expeditions of the past and present, including the representatives of anti-colonialism Aimé Césaire, Franz Fanon and the Nardal sisters.

The wonderful visual artist William Kentridge launches the spectator on to one of his artistic, political and spiritual adventures of which he alone holds the secret: a chamber opera inspired by the avant-gardes of the time, mixing the surreal and irrational (masks, collages, projections) and engaging dancers, performers, chorus members and instrumentalists in a vast web of musical styles, especially African and Caribbean.

Spoken and sung in English, French, Isiswati, Isizulu, Isixhosa, Setswana and Xitsonga with French and English surtitles

Dates: Sunday July 7, Monday July 8, Tuesday July 9, Wednesday July 10
Times: 9:30 p.m.
Duration: 1h20 (without interval)
Place: La Grande Halle
Full price: From €32
Youth price: From €10

A return journey (round trip) shuttle service from Aix-en-Provence to LUMA Arles will be offered at the time of your booking.

Practical Information

From 7 July 2024 to 10 July 2024

Parc des Ateliers

Creative team

Concept | Director: William Kentridge
Associate Directors: Nhlanhla Mahlangu | Phala O. Phala
Choral Composer: Nhlanhla Mahlangu
Music Director: Tlale Makhene
Dramaturg: Mwenya Kabwe
Costume Design: Greta Goiris
Set Design: Sabine Theunissen
Lighting Design: Urs Schönebaum | Elena Gui
Projection Editing | Compositing: Žana Marović | Janus Fouché | Joshua Trappler
Cinematography: Duško Marović
Video Control: Kim Gunning
Musical arrangements: Nathan Koci

Performed and created by

Performers: Xolisile Bongwana, Hamilton Dhlamini, William Harding, Tony Miyambo, Nancy Nkusi, Luc de Wit
Dancers: Thulani Chauke & Teresa Phuti Mojela
Chorus: Anathi Conjwa, Asanda Hanabe, Zandile Hlatshwayo, Khokho Madlala, Nokuthula Magubane, Mapule Moloi,Nomathamsanqa Ngoma
Musicians: Marika Hughes (Cello), Nathan Koci (Accordion | Banjo), Tlale Makhene (Percussion), Thandi Ntuli (Piano)

Produced by

THE OFFICE performing arts + ﬁlm
A project of the Centre for the Less Good Idea

Lead commissioner
LUMA Foundation, Arles, France

Co-Commissioners
Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Miami-Dade County USA with lead sponsor support from Adrienne Arsht; CAL Performances, Berkeley USA; Centre d’Art Battat, Montreal Canada.

Foundational commissioning support for the development and creation of The Great Yes, The Great No is provided by Brown Arts Institute at Brown University.

The Great Yes, The Great No acknowledges the kind assistance of Goodman Gallery, Lia Rumma Gallery and Hauser & Wirth in this project.

Co-Producers
Les Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg, LU | Ruhrfestspiele Recklinghausen, GE

Toured in partnership Quaternaire

Interview with William Kentridge

Through this interview, William Kentridge talks about 'The Great Yes, The Great No', a musical theater piece inspired by the history of the ship Capitaine-Paul-Lemerle, which in 1941 transported refugees from Marseille to Martinique to escape the Vichy regime, including famous intellectuals such as André Breton and Claude Lévi-Strauss.

How does he turn this historical event into a contemporary debate? What symbolism lies behind his choice of putting the boat as the main stage of his play? Why did he use cardboard masks to represent the people on the boat?

'The Great Yes, The Great No' will take place at LUMA Arles from Sunday, July 7 to Wednesday, July 10, in partnership with the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence.

Conversation between William Kentridge and Homi K. Bhabha

Artist William Kentridge and Professor Homi Bhabha, one of the most significant thinkers on postcolonialism, will discuss the main themes of Kentridge’s opera, including the links between Surrealism and the negritude literary movement, as well as migration and the anti-colonial struggles of the Second World War era.

The textual and visual techniques employed by the artist will also be explored, from montage and hybridization to Surrealist, Dadaist, African, and Caribbean inspirations, all of which contribute to the immense inventiveness of Kentridge’s new operatic creation.

William Kentridge

Discover the Artist

William Kentridge (born Johannesburg, South Africa, 1955) is internationally acclaimed for his drawings, films, theatre and opera productions. His method combines drawing, writing, film, performance, music, theatre, and collaborative practices to create works of art that are grounded in politics, science, literature and history, yet maintaining a space for contradiction and uncertainty.