Needles and Opium

Theatre

  • Date

    04/15 (Fri.) 19:30

    04/16 (Sat.) 19:30

    04/17 (Sun.) 14:30

  • Venue

    National Theater

  • Production

    Robert Lepage
    EX MACHINA

  • Price

    NT$ 600 900 1200 1600 2000 2500

How deep could the abyss of love be?
The multi-media and theatrical masterpiece of magic, fascination and sadness

In 1949, French writer and filmmaker Jean Cocteau presented his most recent feature film,L’Aigle à deux têtes, in New York. At the same time, Miles Davis was visiting Paris for the first time, bringing bebop with him. They became obsessed with love and drug after their journey. Forty years later, a lonely Québécois experienced emotional torments echoing both artists’ dependence on love and drug.Thru highly visual staging, which is as much magic as it is theatre, Robert Lepage revisits,20 years after its first production, Needles and Opium. A new scenography, original images,and an acrobat onstage complement Cocteau’s words and Marc Labrèche’s sensitive and ingenious performance. The result is a production with mesmerizing effects, a journey into the night that puts us under a spell and leads us into the light.

Robert Lepage

Versatile in every form of theatre craft, Robert Lepage is equally talented as a director,playwright, actor and film director. His work has been recognized by many awards. His creative and original approach to theatre has won him international acclaim and shaken the dogma of classical stage direction to its foundations, especially through his use of new technologies.Contemporary history is his source of inspiration, and his modern and unusual work transcends all boundaries.

Creative Team

  • Director and text: 羅伯．勒帕吉 Robert Lepage
  • English translation: Jenny Montgomery
  • Director assistant: Normand Bissonnette
  • Performed by: Marc Labrèche, Wellesley Robertson III
  • Set designer: Carl Fillion
  • Props designer: Claudia Gendreau
  • Music and sound designer: Jean-Sébastien Côté
  • Lighting designer: Bruno Matte
  • Costume designer: François St-Aubin
  • Images designer: Lionel Arnould
  • The show contains excerpts from Jean Cocteau's A Letter to Americans and Opium, the Diary of a Cure.
  • Coproduction: Théâtre du Trident, Québec, Canadian Stage,Toronto, Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, Montréal, Adelaide Festival, New Zealand Festival, Le Grand T, théâtre de Loire-Atlantique, Les Quinconces-L'espal, scène conventionnée, théâtres du Mans, Célestins, Théâtre de Lyon, Le Volcan, Scène nationale du Havre, Festival de Otoño a Primavera, Madrid, NAC English Theatre with le Théâtre français du CNA and the Magnetic North Theatre Festival, Setagaya Public Theatre, Tokyo, LG Arts Center, Seoul
  • Duration: approx. 95 minutes without intermission.
  • Latecomers will not be not admitted.
  • Performed in English and French with Chinese surtitles.
  • The age guidance for this production is 14+.
  • This production contains adult subject matter, nudity,
  • smoke and drug scenes. Viewer discretion is advised.
  • Pre-talk: 30 minutes before performance at the lobby of
  • National Theater.
  • Post-talk: 04/17 at the lobby of National Theater.
  • WEBSITE：Needles and Opium