The human voice

La Voix Humaine Facetime / The human voice * Mono Opera about a woman, her ex and the rest of the world *

music – Françis Poulenc

text – Jean Cocteau

Producer – Maria Prylypko

Concept, direction and design – Chris Koolmees (Netherlands)

Soloist – Ekaterina Levental (Actress of Theater, Meco-soprano, Netherlands)

Piano Party – Maria Prylyko (Ukraine)

Production – Company LEKS (Netherlands)

Length: 75 minutes. No intermission. Sung in French with subtitles.

Paris. A middle-aged woman has her ex-husband on the phone with whom she had a relationship for five years. He will be getting married to another woman the next day – something that drives the main character to despair. The monologue reveals the woman’s mental collapse that will ultimately lead to her suicide.

This is the general plot of ‘La voix humaine’, originally a play by Jean Cocteau that was later set to music by Françis Poulenc to create a one-act opera. La Voix Humaine Facetime will be presenting the version for soprano and piano. Chris Koolmees created a brand-new staging that adds an entirely new dimension to this classic production: the person who becomes detached from society. By means of an interactive screen that serves as both a mirror over a dressing table and a modern communication panel, the main character makes a desperate attempt to keep her connection with the outside world intact but unfortunately fails. The sometimes fine line between phantasy and reality in today’s media that results in alternative truths is depicted here in a real-time selfie film which is actually what this staging makes it.