Robert Wilson & Isabelle Huppert: Mary Said What She Said
Company:
Robert Wilson & Isabelle Huppert
U.S. PREMIERE
“Isabelle Huppert dazzles in this one-woman tour de force.” — The Guardian (London)
“Huppert is astounding: her delivery mesmerizing, her movement precise, her gaze unblinking, her presence riveting … unforgettable.” — The Financial Times (London)
ABOUT THE WORK
Award-winning French actress Isabelle Huppert gives a tour de force performance in this remarkable production, directed and designed by the American theatre visionary Robert Wilson. Mary Said What She Said charts the life and torments of Mary Stuart, the sovereign whose passions cost her a crown.
Mary Said was written by novelist and playwright Darryl Pinckney and features an evocative classical score by the Italian composer Ludovico Einaudi. It premiered in 2019 at Théâtre de la Ville–Paris and is the second monologue and third play directed by Robert Wilson starring Isabelle Huppert, following Orlando (1993) and Quartet (2006).
PRODUCTION GUIDANCE
Mary Said What She Said is performed in French with English surtitles.
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Robert Wilson is among the world’s foremost theatre and visual artists. His works for the stage unconventionally integrate a wide variety of artistic media, including dance, movement, lighting, sculpture, music and text. His images are aesthetically striking and emotionally charged, and his productions have earned the acclaim of audiences and critics worldwide. Wilson founded the New York-based performance collective “The Byrd Hoffman School of Byrds” in the mid-1960s, and developed his first signature works, including Deafman Glance (1970) and A Letter for Queen Victoria (1974-1975). With Philip Glass he wrote the seminal opera Einstein on the Beach (1976). Wilson’s artistic collaborators include many writers and musicians such as Heiner Müller, Tom Waits, Susan Sontag, Laurie Anderson, William Burroughs, Lou Reed, Jessye Norman and Anna Calvi. He has also left his imprint on masterworks such as Beckett’s Krapp’s Last Tape, Brecht/Weill’s Threepenny Opera, Debussy’s Pelléas et Melisande several of Shakespeare’s works, and many others. Wilson’s drawings, paintings and sculptures have been presented around the world in hundreds of solo and group showings, and his works are held in private collections and museums throughout the world. Wilson is the founder and Artistic Director of The Watermill Center, a laboratory for the Arts in Water Mill, New York. robertwilson.com
Multiple award-winning French actress Isabelle Huppert has collaborated with many of the world’s greatest artists. Huppert has been directed on film by Claude Goretta, Claude Chabrol, Jean-Luc Godard, Michael Haneke, Samuel Benchetrit, Michael Cimino, Otto Preminger, the Taviani brothers, David O. Russell and Andrzej Wajda, among many others. Isabelle Huppert was head of the jury of the 62nd Cannes Film Festival and of the Tokyo International Film Festival. In recognition of her career, the Berlin International Film Festival awarded her the Silver Bear for Outstanding Artistic Contribution. On stage, in France and internationally, Isabelle Huppert has been directed by leading figures such as Robert Wilson, Heiner Müller, Peter Zadek, Claude Régy, Bernard Murat, Jacques Lassalle, Éric Lacascade, Yasmina Reza, Krzysztof Warlikowski, Benedict Andrews, and Luc Bondy. More recently she has been seen in the American production of Florian Zeller’s The Mother in New York, La Ménagerie de verre by Tennessee Williams directed by Ivo van Hove, and Chekhov’s Cherry Orchard, directed by Tiago Rodrigues and premiered in the Cour d’honneur at the Festival d’Avignon. Her many awards include two César Awards, a BAFTA Award, a Golden Globe Award, and she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Huppert is the recipient of the French Molière lifetime achievement award and won the 16th Europe Theatre Prize in Rome. Mary Said is her third collaboration with Robert Wilson.
Ludovico Einaudi studied at the Music Conservatory in Turin and the Milan Conservatory, earning a diploma in composition and working with notable composers like Luciano Berio and Karlheinz Stockhausen. His career includes composing for ballet, cinema, and theater, with his first solo album, Le Onde (1996), garnering significant attention. Subsequent albums like Eden Roc (1999) and I giorni (2001) further established his reputation. His film scores, including for Intouchables (2011) and This is England (2004), enhanced his prestige. Einaudi’s introspective albums, Una mattina (2004) and Divenire, achieved best-seller status in both classical and popular music. His international tours included landmark performances, and in 2019, he released Seven Days Walking, a series of albums. His 2022 solo piano album, Underwater, was inspired by the pandemic’s stillness.
Darryl Pinckney is the author of two novels, High Cotton (1992), Black Deutschland (2016), three collections of essays, Out There: Mavericks of Black Literature (2002), Blackballed: The Black Vote and U.S. Democracy (2012), Busted in New York and Other Essays (2019), and a memoir, Come Back in September: A Literary Education on West 67th Street, Manhattan (2022). He has written and adapted texts for Robert Wilson’s productions of The Forest, Orlando, Time Rocker, The Old Woman, Letter to A Man, Garrincha: A Musical of the Street, and Dorian, as well as Mary Said What She Said.
CREATIVE CREDITS
Direction, set and light design by Robert Wilson
With Isabelle Huppert
Text by Darryl Pinckney
Music Ludovico Einaudi
A production of Théâtre de la Ville-Paris
RUN TIME
Approximately 1 hour and 30 minutes with no intermission
SUPPORT
NYU Skirball’s presentation of “Mary Said What She Said” is made possible in part with support from Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels, Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater, and Villa Albertine.
NYU Skirball’s programs are made possible in part with support from the National Endowment for the Arts; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; and the Howard Gilman Foundation; Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels; Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater; Collins Building Services; Harkness Foundation for Dance; Villa Albertine; General Delegation of the Government of Flanders to the USA; Goethe Institut; Austrian Consulate General New York; Marta Heflin Foundation; as well as our valued donors through memberships, commissioning, and Allies for Arts Access Fund support.
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