Why not think about theatre as an act of presentation that brings into play movement, energy? Then, attention is drawn to the relationship created between the stage space and the spectator space. What comes out of this in-between space – what is produced by the creation of an in-between space – can be viewed as symbolic, not in the common sense of the expression ("this symbolizes that") but rather in its etymological sense: "this (the symbol) relates that (the actor) with that (the spectator)".

With this in mind, Dr. Jean-Frédéric Chevallier proposed to 15 people from Borotalpada, a Santal village in West Midnapur District, West Bengal, that they all together produce an experimental stage work. Over three weeks (daily, from 6 pm to 9 pm) they collectively composed and practised a play that they finally called Monsoon Night Dream. It is a complete non dramatic proposition. There is no character, no story, no conflict, only a sweet invitation to contemplate, in a very simple way, the presence of the seven women, three men and four musicians who are there, sometimes performing quotidian actions or gestures from their daily lives, sometimes performing parts of Santal dances, sometimes just remaining there, looking at someone in this audience.

With the aim of building bridges between different cultures and peoples, the performance will be presented in the metropolis of Kolkata. Surely, this proposition is quite different from what the city public is used to see. If there is any meaning, it is built by each one in the audience, personally, differently, and from his or her own feelings. So Monsoon Night Dream becomes a way to enjoy and share the diversity of our world.

To view a 5-minute extract from the performance, please click on the image below:

JEAN-FRÉDÉRIC CHEVALLIER is trained in philosophy, sociology and theatrical studies. In 2002, he completed with honours a Doctorate (Ph D) from the Sorbonne University. For two years, he taught at the Institute of Theatre Studies of this university. Writer, director of the Feu Faux Lait troupe, founder of the Proyecto 3 company, and researcher, Jean-Frédéric Chevallier has been lecturer at the Autonomous University of Mexico City and the Institute of Arts at the Autonomous University of the State of Hildago where he coordinated the Research Centre for Contemporary Theatrical Gesture (CIGITECO). He currently teaches theatre directing at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). He is member of the National Research System (SNI). His research deals with the dissociation between the dramatic and the theatrical, the relation stage/audience, and the tragic tendencies inhabiting contemporary theatre texts. He has published on these issues in specialised revues in France, Canada, Belgium, Colombia, Italia, Peru and Mexico. He organises theatre research workshops in Salvador, Uruguay, France and Mexico. In Mexico, where he has resided since 2002, he has directed Los tres sueños de Rosaura (based on Calderón by Pasolini) at the Sala de Arte Público Siqueiros / National Fine Arts Institute, Callejón de Lys by Joseph Danan at the Forum La Capilla / National Fund for Culture and Arts, Hamlet-Machine by Heiner Müller at the National Culture Museum / National Institute of Anthropology and History, Gaudeamus desde México at the Forum Sor Juana / UNAM Theatre, Sin título at the Casa Refugio Citlaltépetl, Discurso Capital in the Ex-Convento Community Centre of Culhuacan and Bombays Railways at the Carlos Lazo Theatre / UNAM. He organises cycles of conferences on the contemporary theatre and, in November 2004, Novembre 2006 and November 2007, the first, second and third international colloquium on the contemporary theatrical gesture. His first movie, made with Maïa Nicolas in a  South Tribal Village in Mexico, received a special mention from the Ensenada Film Festival.  He is also preparing the publication in France of one essay: Deleuze et le théâtre.