Robert Wilson
CocoRosie Jungle Book based on « The Jungle Book » by Rudyard Kipling

Following on from the long-standing friendship between Robert Wilson and the Festival d’Automne, this autumn, at the invitation of Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota, the American director Robert Wilson will be taking up a new challenge, that of adapting a tale that speaks to all audiences. His chosen work is The Jungle Book, this celebration of the child and the world of animals, and he will be revisiting it in the company of the musical duo CocoRosie

Now it is Robert Wilson’s turn to welcome into his unique onstage universe the figure of Mowgli, Rudyard Kipling’s heroic, abandoned jungle child. Part-opera and part-musical theatre, his Jungle Book brings to light the friendships and struggles that unite Baloo the bear, Bagheera the panther, and even Shere Khan the tiger. This is not the first time that the American director, who, once again, puts his name to the set and lighting design, tackles a work written for younger readers. His Peter Pan already saw him collaborating with the two CocoRosie sisters, and whose musical universe mixes folk and hip-hop, percussion and electronic music. Fascinated by childhood, this same duo which, in the past, transformed toys into musical instruments, now brings us a composition which is both demanding and playful. Carried along by a troop consisting of artists hailing from many different origins, Jungle Book definitely has something of the rite of passage about it and its themes – tolerance and humanity – are more relevant than ever. Drawing upon animal behaviour in the way he directs his actors, it is the occasion for Robert Wilson to confront audiences young and old alike with his brand of total theatre.
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Estimated running time : 1h10
Show suitable for children above 8 years old
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Performed in French and some English