Roberto Zucco

Roberto Zucco Collectif 13 / Bernard-Marie Koltès + 13 years old In a staging that does not seek to explain Roberto Zucco, nor to reduce him to a clinical case, Rose Noël focuses on making the power of Koltès’s text heard, its violence, its poetry, and its capacity to transform a news item into a contemporary myth. Roberto Zucco occupies a singular place in the work of Bernard-Marie Koltès: the play is one of the first to bring a contemporary news item so head-on onto the theatrical stage. By drawing inspiration from the true story of Roberto Succo, an Italian serial killer whose flight marked the 1980s, Koltès does not seek to reconstruct a criminal case. He transforms reality into a fable, the news item into a modern tragedy. One night, Roberto Zucco escapes from the prison where he was incarcerated for the murder of his father. Then begins a dizzying flight, punctuated by encounters that outline, in the negative, an impossible quest for identity. Hunted by inspectors, observed, commented on, fantasized about, Zucco fascinates as much as he frightens. His angelic face disturbs those who cross his path: how can such a beautiful boy act this way? Starting from this criminal figure, Koltès explores the dark side that slumbers in each of us. The play questions our relationship to violence, to freedom, to desire, but also to the place that everyone tries to find in society. Carried by a poetic and raw language, this contemporary epic plunges into the heart of our contradictions: between fear and fascination, rejection and attraction, the need to understand and vertigo in the face of the inexplicable. The staging and the text go beyond the mere news item to reach more universal issues. An immersive experience, where the audience is invited to confront their own questions and sheds light on the way the world manufactures, hides, or distorts truths that disturb. Credits: Natalia Bacalov / Lola Blanchard / Simon Cohen / Laurence Côte / Suzanne or Mélie Torrell / Maxime Gleizes or Thomas Rio / Axel Granberger / Akrem Hamdi / Rose Noël / Martin Sevrin Mise staging Rose Noël Collaboration artistic Simon Cohen Collaboration artistic Simon Cohen Création musical Natalia Bacalov / Martin Sevrin Lumieres Enzo Cescatti Scenography Mathilde Juillard Son Mateo Esnault / Tom Beauseigneur Costumes Cloe Robin Surtitrage video Katell Paugam  Soutiens Studio ESCA / Centre Culturel Jean Vilar