doollee banner
The Playwrights Database
contact doollee


Marie-Helene Estienne

MARIE-HELENE ESTIENNE

  
Nationality:    French
email:    n/a     Website:    n/a

Literary Agent:    n/a

Marie-Helene Estienne's plays including theatres, agent, synopses, cast sizes, production and published dates

please send corrections / additions to doollee as an attachment -> download WORD submission template

Buy Plays with Doollee

Each page of doollee.com has links to play/book outlets, either directly to the Publisher, through Stageplays.com and Amazon to the second hand and 1st editions of AbeBooks. These links will automatically take you to the relevant area obviating the need for further search.
AbeBooks.co.uk   AbeBooks.com   Stageplays.com   amazon.com   amazon.co.uk   amazon.ca
whether you are a Playwright who wishes to make their entry definitive, an unlisted Playwright or a User with a tale to tell - we want to hear from you.
download WORD submission template

below is a list of Marie-Helene Estienne's plays - click on a Play Title for more information

         11 Or 12         Battlefield         Grand Inquisitor, The         Man Who, The         Suit, The         Ta Main Dans La Mienne (Your Hand In Mine)         Valley of Astonishment, The
11 Or 12

Synopsis:
In this transfer from Paris translated into english, two innocent numbers become a metaphor for sectarian warfare in a West African tale that at times takes on an almost biblical quality. as our narrator amadou, played by Tunji Lucas, says at the start, in this 90 minute long performance, a bead becomes a bomb, as reason is overridden by blind faith. He is the disciple of wise teacher and priestly sage, Makram J. Khoury as Tierno Bokar, an old man who believes in peace and honour, at whatever cost to himself. as always with Peter Brook, the staging is simple: little more than a couple of red mats, some sand and a few barren trees occupy the large stage, together with a multi-national seven strong acting ensemble and composer Toshi Tsuchitori playing an assortment of primitive instruments from a cross-legged crouch. This leaves much to the viewer's imagination and there is ample scope to fill in the gaps with one's own perceptions and experience in a story told largely in parables. the gist is that through confusion, the traditional 11 repetitions of a Muslim holy prayer become 12. Two factions soon arise, increasingly belligerently supporting the old and new ways respectively. as if this wasn't enough to cause discord in a poor community, the French colonialists inflame the situation by taking sides. In all of this turmoil, it takes a brave man to follow his own principles heedless of the dangers of doing so and that man is Tierno Bokar. the symbolism of this play has great resonance in a world more than half a century on but still torn asunder by religious fundamentalism and intolerance. It seems even more meaningful and moving when one discovers that what seems like a cleverly constructed story is based on real lives.
- Philip Fisher, British theatre Guide

Notes:
adapted from the works of Amadou Hampate Ba by Marie-Helene Estienne And Peter Brook

1st Produced:

Organisations:
Co-commissioned by barbicanbite10, London; C.I.C.T. / Theatre des Bouffes du Nord, Paris; Grotowski Institute, Wroclaw

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  7 performers

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Battlefield

Synopsis:
Destruction never approaches weapon in hand. It comes slyly, on tiptoe, making you see bad in good and good in bad. The internationally renowned team of Peter Brook, Marie-Helene Estienne and Jean-Claude Carriere together revisit the great Indian epic The Mahabharata30 years after Brook's legendary production took world theatre by storm. The devastation of war is tearing the Bharata family apart. The new king must unravel a mystery: how can he live with himself in the face of the devastation and massacres that he has caused. An immense canvas in miniature, this central section of the ancient text is timeless and contemporary, asking how we can find inner peace in a world riven with conflict.

Notes:
Based on the Mahabharata and the play by Jean-Claude Carriere, adapted by Peter Brook and Marie-Helene Estienne

1st Produced:

Organisations:
A C.I.C.T. / Theātre des Bouffes du Nord production

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
epic text

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Grand Inquisitor, The

Synopsis:
Christ returns to earth during the Inquisition but is arrested and flung into a cell, where he's visited by the 90-year-old cardinal who presides over the autos-da-fe.

Notes:
adapted from Fyodor Dostoevsky

1st Produced:
The Pit, London     2006

Organisations:
Theatre des Bouffes du Nord

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
Play/Drama

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Man Who, The

Man Who, The
-

Notes:
Written by Marie-Helene Estienne and Peter Brook. Based on the book "The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat" by Oliver Sachs

1st Produced:
-    

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
-

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Suit, The

Synopsis:
In the dusty heat of a 1950s South African township, a young worker returns home to find his wife in bed with her lover. the lover escapes, leaving behind his suit. the only revenge the husband takes is to instruct his wife to treat the suit as an honoured guest. But how long can she endure this cruel and pitiless sentence.

Notes:
a musical play by Peter Brook And Marie-Helene estienne, After the original story by Can themba, Adapted for the stage by Barney Simon And Mothobi Mutloatse

1st Produced:

Organisations:
a CICT/ Theatre des Bouffes du Nord production

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
musical play

Parts:
Male:  -            Female:  -            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Ta Main Dans La Mienne (Your Hand In Mine)

Synopsis:
based on the letters of anton Chekov and the actress Olga Knipper, for whom he wrote some of his most resonant roles. Spread over five short years from 1899 to 1904, the letters trace the friendship, love and eventual marriage of the celebrated Dramatist and actress. But what makes the letters so poignant - and necessary - is that Chekhov was forced to winter in Yalta for his health while Olga practised her craft in Moscow. Separation lends the correspondence its emotional ache, affection and occasional asperity

Notes:
Original Playwright - Carol Rocamora

1st Produced:
The Pit, London     2005

Organisations:
CICT & Theatre des Bouffes du Nord for BITe 05

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
adaptation

Parts:
Male:  1            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:
-

Top of Page Top of Page

Valley of Astonishment, The

Synopsis:
Imagine a world where every sound has a colour. Where every colour has a taste. Where the number 8 is a fat lady. This breathtaking new play explores the fascinating experiences of real people who see the world in a radically different light. The Valley of Astonishment is a kaleidoscopic journey into the wonders of the human brain, inspired by years of neurological research, true stories and Farid Attar's epic mystical poem The Conference of the Birds.

Notes:
written by Peter Brook and Marie-Helene Estienne

1st Produced:

Organisations:
-

1st Published:
-   

Music:
-

To Buy This Play:
If Publisher (above) is underlined then the play may be purchased by direct click from the Publisher, otherwise (below) are AbeBooks for secondhand, signed & 1st eds and other Booksellers for new copies

Booksellers:

Genre:
piece

Parts:
Male:  2            Female:  1            Other:  -

Further Reference:

Top of Page Top of Page