Grandiose, historic, unique, wonderful, bold, brilliant, frenetic, unprecedented, majestic and revolutionary were some of the titles used by the foreign press to describe the Opening of the Olympic Games in Paris, 2024. No stadiums to grab the attention, with the Seine river enough. The city embodied the scene and with it the olympiad. Athletes, artists, inhabitants, visitors, spectacle and everyday life, fused into a single event. Together! Beauty as a political act.
The ceremony was view by 22 millions of television viewers. 300 thousand people witnessed it live, throughout 6 kilometers. Cost 150 million dollarstwo years of intense work, and still the outcome could not be predicted rain. Nor could much be done when the railway lines in part of the city were blocked. From dawn, Paris was cut off. Nobody enters and nobody leaves. The staging had to continue its course.
A hooded figure leaps over the city’s rooftops. A drag queen dances to electronic music. Members of the royal family are beheaded by revolutionaries, to the rhythm of heavy metal. A silver horse, dressed in armour, crosses the river from one end to the other. The National Library of France creates a platform for a ménage à trois. Aya Nakamura sings with the Republican Guard in front of the Royal French Academy. Not to mention Lady Gaga and Céline Dion, both apostles of music, with the Eiffel Tower as a guarantor. And in the midst of all this staging, the participating delegations make their appearance on boats.
The ceremony included several events. Republican ideas were present throughout the ceremony. Inclusion had a special place. Generosity was present, as well as solidarity. A message of universalism and tolerance, just a few weeks before the possible victory of the French right wing. Not bad for those of us who believe in the values of freedom. A very “French” ceremony, endowed with a clear conscience to disturb traditional moulds.
Thomas Jolly is the name of the theatre director responsible for the opening and closure of Olympic and Paralympic GamesHe is 42 years old. He defends the idea of a popular theatre. The qualification does not detract from his demand, rigor and professionalism. He gives meaning to his vocation. He wants it to be easy, accessible and simple. The difference is, he tells us, in the relationship between art and the public.
Not afraid to resort to the big stage, his productions seek to arouse emotion. He makes use of special effects, both sound and light, it was clear. He, along with another talented young man, Thomas Dechandon, are responsible for the theatricalisation of the Olympic Games.
Travelling theatre aims to enthuse the audience before the performance. It uses acrobats, acrobats and fire-breathers to create a bond that goes beyond mere expectation. Jolly has been using it since his beginnings in 1993, when he joined the theatre company “Enfants dans la banlieu” (Young People in the Periphery). He later created his own company, La Piccola Familia, in 2006.
He rose to fame in 2014. During the Avignon Festival, he staged Shakespeare’s Henry VI. Composed of 15 acts, the French director staged 18 hours of performance, 150 people and ten thousand verses. He handled complex themes due to their “simplicity”, such as love, adventure, betrayal, delirium (by proxy), murder, comedy, tragedy, farce, triviality, cruelty and meditation.
The majesty of what was witnessed just a few days ago by the entire world has its antecedents in works such as Thyestes, by Seneca, performed in the Courtyard of Honor of the Papal Palace in Avignon; the rock opera “Starmania,” created by composer Michel Berger and lyricist Luc Plamondon; or in the critical political allegory against Stalin’s tyranny and authoritarianism by the Russian playwright, Evgueni Schwartz, entitled “The Dragon.”
Caught in the rain on the opening day, Jolly not only adapted to the circumstances, he took advantage of the opportunity to honour the setting. Fluctuat nec mergitur is the Latin motto inscribed on the coat of arms of the so-called city of light, which means: “[Paris] “She is tossed by the waves, but not sunk.” So it was. So it is.
So be it.
PS: It is never good to write “with your stomach.” Rest in peacedarling Cuen.
Juan Alfonso Mejía has a PhD in Political Science and is a social activist in favor of education.
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