Arthur Nauzyciel

Biography

Arthur Nauzyciel is a director and actor. He directed the National Drama Center of Orléans from 2007 to 2016 and is director of the Théâtre National de Bretagne and the national drama school since 2017. After studying visual arts and cinema, he entered the school of Théâtre National de Chaillot directed by Antoine Vitez in 1987. Initially an actor, he performed in Paris at the Théâtre national de l’Odéon, Théâtre de la Ville, Théâtre National de Chaillot, Théâtre Nanterre Amandiers, and most of important theaters in France and Festival d’Avignon.

He then created his first stage production in 1999, Le Malade imaginaire or Le Silence de Molière after Molière and Giovanni Macchia, that toured for 9 years. Followed: Happy Days by Samuel Beckett at Théâtre national de l’Odéon and Teatro San Martin in Buenos Aires, Heldenplatz which marked Thomas Bernhard's inclusion in the repertoire at the Comédie-Française; Ordet (The Word) by Kaj Munk translated and adapted by Marie Darrieussecq at the Festival d'Avignon; Jan Karski (My name is a fiction) based on the novel by Yannick Haenel at the Festival d'Avignon (Georges-Lerminier Critic’s Award); Faim by Knut Hamsun; Chekhov's The Seagull in the cour d'honneur at the Avignon Festival; Kaddish by Allen Ginsberg at the Avignon Festival; Splendid's by Jean Genet, with a cast of american actors and the voice of Jeanne Moreau, her last work. The show has been recreated on Zoom, live streamed for the online edition of the cancelled Festival TNB in 2020 and in numerous digital festivals; La Dame aux Camélias by Alexandre Dumas fils at TNB and on tour; his last production, Mes Frères (My brothers) by Pascal Rambert has been premiered in Paris’ Théâtre national de la Colline in 2020 and will be on tour this season.

He works regularly in the United States where he created two plays by Bernard-Marie Koltès, Black Battles with Dogs and Roberto Zucco, in Atlanta, and Abigail's Party by Mike Leigh and Julius Caesar by Shakespeare in Boston, for the American Repertory Theater. Abroad, he creates shows in foreign languages that are then performed in France or in international festivals. The Image by Samuel Beckett with dancer Damien Jalet and Lou Doillon in Dublin, New York, Reykjavik; The Museum of the Sea by Marie Darrieussecq at the National Theatre of Iceland; Abigail's Party by Mike Leigh at the National Theatre of Norway; The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant by Rainer Werner Fassbinder at the Mini Teater in Ljubljana, Slovenia; The Empire of Lights by Kim Young-ha at the National Theater Company of Korea (NTCK), and Love's End, by Pascal Rambert, at the Wooran Foundation, both with South Korean star Moon So Ri.

He also works for dance and opera: he directed Red Waters, opera by Lady & Bird (Keren Ann Zeidel and Barði Jóhannsson), A Florentine Tragedy by Alexander Zemlinsky at the Abbaye de Royaumont and Le Papillon Noir (Black Butterfly), composed by Yann Robin and Yannick Haenel. Alongside Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, he participated in the creation of Play with the dancer Shantala Shivalingappa and Session with the choreographer Colin Dunne.

He regularly collaborates with other artists: Miroslaw Balka, Matt Elliott, Christian Fennesz, Damien Jalet, Etienne Daho, Valérie Mréjen, Pierre-Alain Giraud, José Lévy, Gaspard Yurkievich, Erna Ómarsdóttir, the Organum Ensemble, Sjón, Charles de Vilmorin..

As an actor, he recently performed for choreographer Boris Charmatz in La Ruée, was directed by Pascal Rambert in De mes propres mains (With my own hands) at théâtre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris and L'Art du Théâtre (Art of theater) in Princeton and Paris, Architecture, created in la cour d’honneur at the Avignon Festival. He appeared as Cezanne in Jacques Doillon’s Rodin and for HBO series Irma Vep by Olivier Assayas.

 

(Update April 2022)