La Chauve-Souris / Die Fledermaus
“’Forget the irreparable’, was the axiom by which the Habsburg monarchy approached its own demise. The despondency of those twilight years could but infiltrate the gaiety of operetta.” So wrote Claudio Magris about Die Fledermaus, a singularly unsettling work with its maelstrom of mistaken identities, dancing and drinking. In 1944, Die Fledermaus was one of the works performed at the Theresienstadt Concentration Camp where some of Europe’s best musicians were held captive by the Nazis. Inspired by this setting, Célie Pauthe draws on the salutary frivolity that brings the work to life and the force of collective resistance it inspired.
Production manager and Costume Design Assistant on the new production of the Académie de l'Opéra National de Paris. A textile and colorful range research, dying process, decoration and textile embellishment were made on about fifty silhouettes in total, including double-cast and musicians on stage. A costume workshop ran this project during several months, leading to a two weeks show at the MC93 Bobigny, followed by a tour in several french theaters.