If I am in Rome, Conakry, Gennevilliers or St. Petersburg, what are the different forms of discourse that materially cross me? Jukebox ‘Roma’ ed. 2022 is a solo work conceived for a specific geographical space; for a city, its inhabitants and its dialogues. Each site-specific creation arises from the collaboration of the Encyclopédie de la parole collective with a performer, a dramaturg, a translator as well as various “collectors of local discourses” who collect, classify and transcribe audio documents.
In its Italian version – played by actress and singer Monica Demuru – Jukebox has already appeared in Rome, Prato, Cagliari and now returns to Short Theatre, the national context from which it started, enriched by the documents collected in each of its subsequent stagings.
Jukebox ‘Roma’ ed. 2022 is a performance never equal to itself, in which Monica Demuru lends voice, body and tone of speech to the exploration of the acoustic and oral landscape that resonates in each place. The public is invited to choose the sound extract to listen to from a sort of tracklist, revealing how language produces a cultural, atmospheric and affective universe.
Following the mobile nature of the performance, Short Theatre leaves Rome for the first time, reaching the Artemisio Gian Maria Volonté Theatre in Velletri and the Fellini Theatre in Pontinia, thanks to the collaboration with ATCL – Associazione Teatri tra i Comuni del Lazio.
Encyclopédie de la parole is an artistic project led by a collective of poets, actors, visual artists, ethnographers, musicians, curators, directors, choreographers and radio producers that, since 2007, has been exploring speech in all its forms, collecting different recordings and indexing them according to specific phenomena that make up the way people speak, such as rhythm, chorality, timbre, address, emphasis, spacing, residue, saturation or melody. Following their motto “We are all experts in speaking” and starting from a collection that now includes more than a thousand recordings, Encyclopédie de la parole produces works of sound art and performance as well as shows, conferences, concerts and installations.
Elise Simonet works alongside numerous artists, whether as dramaturg or artistic collaborator. As a member of the group l’Encyclopédie de la parole, her research touches orality and documentary recordings of speech within live art. She is Joris Lacoste’s artistic collaborator on the Choral Suites cycle and co-writes the multiple versions of Jukebox since 2019. Since 2017 she has been conducting Converser, a project of conversations with polyglots, associated with a game of drawing cards, with which she questions languages, in their intimate and public use (Brussels-2018, Fribourg-2019, Strasbourg-2021). As a dramaturg, she is invited to Cliniques Dramaturgiques by Jessie Mill at FTA Montreal, by Sarah Israel at PAF Berlin, co-organized les Cliniques Dramaturgiques of Short Theater Festival in Rome and intervenes in the cycle of modules dramaturgiques of la Bellone, Bruxelles.
Joris Lacoste has been an author for stage and radio since 1996 and, since 2003, he has created his own shows and performances including: 9 Lyriques pour une actrice et une caisse claire (2005), Purgatoire (2007) and Le vrai spectacle (2011). In 2004, he founded the W collective research project. In the two-year period 2006-2007, he was associate co-author with the Théâtre de la Colline. From 2007 to 2009 he co-directed the Laboratoires d ’Aubervilliers. He also produces seminars and performative games. Since 2007 he has been a founding member of Encyclopédie de la parole.
Before Jukebox, Elise Simonet and Joris Lacoste worked together on a cycle of choral suites and, from 2015 to 2016, they co-organized the TJCC festival at the Théâtre de Gennevilliers. Their performances with the Encyclopédie de la parole have been shown around the world and were showcased at the Festival d’Automne in Paris in 2020.
project by Encyclopédie de la parole
artistic direction Elise Simonet
direction Joris Lacoste
with Monica Demuru
dramaturgy and coordination of the collection of audio documents Francesco Alberici e Riccardo Fazi
scenery assistant Jukebox “Roma” ed. 2022 Edoardo Coen
collection of audio documents Francesco Alberici, Monica Demuru, Joris Lacoste, Elise Simonet, Matteo Angius, Maddalena De Carolis, Riccardo Fazi, Federico Paino, Giorgia Vignola (Roma), Tommaso Carovani, Lorenza Guerrini, Andrea Livi, Veronica Tinnirello (Prato), Sophy Benar, Elisa Comparetti, Andrea Melis, Claudio Mura (Cagliari).
production Short Theatre
thanks to Edoardo Coen
in collaboration with Teatro Biblioteca Quarticciolo, ATCL – Teatro Artemisio Gian Maria Volontè di Velletri, Teatro Fellini di Pontinia, Échelle 1:1, Fondazione Teatro Metastasio/Contemporanea Festival, Sardegna Teatro
supported by Institut français Italia, Fondazione Nuovi Mecenati
