Emma Darwin

Teatro del Silencio

 Création 2009
A French Chilean coproduction
 Contents

- 2009 : bicentenary of the birth of Charles Darwin and 150th

anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of Species

- Emma Darwin : a mirror look

- Mauricio Celedon's letter of intent

Artistic director of Teatro del Silencio

- The question of God

- Museum of the end of the world

- A work of "naturalist" of gesture and word

A search on the actor-puppet
A work on the image and video projections

- About the scenic space:

Tower of Babel of our evolution

- The Team of creation

- Partners and co-producers

Projected calendar of creation

- Summary of the history of the Company

2009 : Bicentenary of the birth of Charles Darwin
and 150th anniversary of the publication of
On the Origin of Species

On the occasion of the celebration of the bicentenary

of the birth of Charles Darwin and the 150th
anniversary of the publication of On the Origin of
Species, in 2009, Teatro del Silencio will lead a journey
of research and creation across the work and the life of
Darwin.

Scholar and man of science, inexhaustible thinker, his

discoveries have profoundly changed science,
philosophy, religion, and man in his nature and
continue to question them even today.

World-famous, Darwin remains a mystery for the great

majority of the public. A man whose importance is
known by everybody but whose work finally is
relatively unknown. A "stranger", confined in his
thoughts and reflections.

We’ll speak about the man, we’ll question the current

world and the world of tomorrow - as in our works on
Arthur Rimbaud (Malasangre or the 1001 nights of the
poet) and on Antonin Artaud (Nanaqui - Dossier 262
602 ) - with our own means of researchers and
creators: poetry, words, music, pantomime, theater
and dance …
 Emma Darwin : a mirror look

Out of this need to dig, to question ourselves, this first

proposition was born.
To speak about Darwin through Emma, his faithful
partner and "counsellor", across a double mirror look.

Emma will be the feminine voice, which, with her

doubts, reflections, memories, and flashbacks, will
lead our work of writing.

The one who, through her look, will sketch our own
look. The one who, through her monologue and her
own contradictions, will guide our reflections and
questions on Darwin.
 Mauricio Celedon's letter of intent
Artistic director of Teatro del Silencio

Why Darwin ?
Maybe we had to wait 200 years to be able to get tangled with languages which are not
ours.
So much time was necessary to understand a genius.
But can we imagine the world without Darwin ? Without the deep marks he left ?
We chose to continue our theatrical research on this character who shines nowadays
and who can enlighten us all.
Charles and Emma Darwin. We are going to go through their biographies, their lives,
to hand them once more in the theatrical lucidity.
Theatre is man’s fantasy, that’s why we speak about a soul so dear as the one of
Charles Darwin and we wish to create this magnificent story by ways as only theatre
can make it.
We question ourselves on our existence and our evolution.
We still remain an occult poem. It is why I like to make theatre.

She speaks to us about him.

He speaks to us about her.
She speaks to us about her journey aboard The Beagle in Patagonia, in Brazil, in
Ecuador, in Argentina, in Chile, in Tierra del Fuego.
He speaks to us about Down, about this infinite suffering of the death of his daughter:
Annie.
She speaks to us about his doubts about the existence of God, about this sick man.

Disguise of memories : she carries his memory. And he carries the memory of the
Patagonia, the Amazonia. Then, pure greenery, end of street of the sun, Tierra del
Fuego, exuberance of unfathomable forests like this world we do not know.
She will then become that wild victorian, that woman who is transformed and carries
words that come from a long way away, from a deep earth, from the Pacific, to the
compass of a music that moves our souls.
 Emma Darwin and Charles Darwin

In 1839, Darwin married his cousin, Emma Wedgwood,

settled with her first in London and then to Down, one
hour from London, where he bought a property.

In the silence and the greenery, he led a regular and

quiet life, which left him the time of the reflection, to
contemplate the nature, to visit its greenhouses and
his fields of experiences.

In this peaceful living environment, interrupted only

by his problems of health and his insomnias, he
elaborated, with an infinite patience, one of the most
considerable works which is due to a natural scientist.

Emma and Charles Darwin share their life with mutual

respect and love.

Emma is a religious woman, with strong religious

convictions
 The question of God

Charles DARWIN following, on this matter, the son of

its thoughts and reflections tells in its autobiography ::

« During these two years, I was led to think much

about religion. Whilst on board the Beagle I was quite
orthodox, and I remember being heartily laughed at by
several of the officers (though themselves orthodox)
for quoting the Bible as an unanswerable authority on
some point of morality. (…)
But I had gradually come, by this time, to see that the
Old Testament from its manifestly false history of the
world, with the Tower of Babel, the rainbow as a sign
(…) was no more to be trusted than the sacred books
of the Hindoos, or the beliefs of any barbarian. (…)
Thus disbelief crept over me at a very slow rate, but
was at last complete. The rate was so slow that I felt no
distress, and have never since doubted even for a
single second that my conclusion was correct. »

In : "The Life and Letters" of Charles Darwin

Despite her deep religious divergences which
sometimes make her feel anxious, Emma, loving
woman, understands her husband; she writes him,
very little time after their marriage, a frank letter that
Darwin carefully kept all his life :

« The state of mind that I wish to preserve with respect

to you, is to feel that while you are acting
conscientiously and sincerely wishing and trying to
learn the truth, you cannot be wrong, but there are
some reasons that force themselves upon me, and
prevent myself from being always able to give myself
this comfort. I daresay you have often thought of them
before, but I will write down what has been in my head,
knowing that my own dearest will indulge me.
Your mind and time are full of the most interesting
subjects and thoughts of the most absorbing kind, viz.
following up your own discoveries—but which make it
very difficult for you to avoid casting out as
interruptions other sorts of thoughts which have no
relation to what you are pursuing, or to be able to give
your whole attention to both sides of the question.
There is another reason which would have a great effect
on a woman, but I don't know whether it wd. so much
on a man. I mean whose understanding you have such a
very high opinion of and whom you have so much
affection for, having gone before you—is it not likely to
have made it easier to you and to have taken off some of
that dread fear which the feeling of doubting first gives
and which I do not think an unreasonable or
superstitious feeling. It seems to me also that the line of
your pursuits may have led you to view chiefly the
difficulties on one side, and that you have not had time
to consider and study the chain of difficulties on the
other, but I believe you do not consider your opinion as
formed.
May not the habit in scientific pursuits of believing
nothing till it is proved, influence your mind too much
in other things which cannot be proved in the same way,
and which if true are likely to be above our
comprehension. I should say also there is a danger in
giving up revelation which does not exist on the other
side, that is the fear of ingratitude in casting off what
has been done for your benefit as well as for that of all
the world and which ought to make you still more
careful, perhaps even fearful lest you should not have
taken all the pains you could to judge truly. I do not
know whether this is arguing as if one side were true
and the other false, which I meant to avoid, but I think
not. I do not quite agree with you in what you once said
that luckily there were no doubts as to how one ought to
act. I think prayer is an instance to the contrary, in one
case it is a positive duty and perhaps not in the other.
But I daresay you meant in actions which concern
others and then I agree with you almost if not quite. I do
not wish for any answer to all this—it is a satisfaction
to me to write it, and when I talk to you about it I
cannot say exactly what I wish to say, and I know you
will have patience with your own dear wife. Don't think
that it is not my affair and that it does not much signify
to me. Everything that concerns you concerns me and I
should be most unhappy if I thought we did not belong
to each other for ever. I am rather afraid my own dear
Nigger will think I have forgotten my promise not to
bother him, but I am sure he loves me, and I cannot tell
him how happy he makes me and how dearly I love him
and thank him for all his affection which makes the
happiness of my life more and more every day. »

"Letter of Emma Darwin to Charles Darwin"

in Vol.II de John Murray, 1915
 Museum of the end of the world

« These poor wretches were stunted in their growth,

their hideous faces bedaubed with white paint, their
skins filthy and greasy, their hair entangled, their voices
discordant, their gestures violent and without dignity.
Viewing such men, one can hardly make oneself believe
they are fellow-creatures, and inhabitants of the same
world. It is a common subject of conjecture what
pleasure in life some of the less gifted animals can enjoy:
how much more reasonably the same question may be
asked with respect to these barbarians. »

In ‘Voyages of the Adventure and Beagle"

by Charles Darwin
Vol. III. / Chapter XI
The gap that separated Darwin of this " miserable
stunted race " will be filled by the corpses of the
Indians.

In less than a century, people, cultures, a thousand

years old languages will have been annihilated by
the arrival of the hunters of seals or whales, gold-
diggers, missionaries, industrialists …

On the traces of Darwin, we shall go backwards in

the course of time, to try to understand this odyssey
of the species and of our evolution.

A crossing which will lead us towards the Patagonia,

in search of these recently disappeared peoples :
Yaman and Selk' nam.
A work of "naturalist" of gesture and word
A search on the actor-puppet
A work on the image and video projections

Since its foundation, in 1989, Teatro del Silencio

pursues its researches of a total theater, a theater
which realizes the fusion of performing arts, with the
determination to create a theatrical language that is
accessible to all, allied to a reflection about our time.

The creation of Emma Darwin which will be in the

continuity of this search will be the occasion to
introduce new researches on :

the actor puppet,

as well as a work on the image and video projections.

About the scenic space
Tower of Babel of our evolution

Although it’s conceived as a fixed stage

with the public in front,
Emma Darwin's scenic space will reflect
this universe of evolution,
transformation, mutation.

Trans-mutant towers
of two metres by three metres,
five metres height,
are put into different configurations,
evolve in the space.
They are protagonists of the story.

Ropes, pulleys, counterweights

to hoist and unfurl the sails
to put in movement, suspend,
bring up and manipulate the actors

"Cabins", "ships holds" as chrysalises,

metamorphoses rooms,
from where the actors appear and disappear.

Tower of Babel of our evolution,

botanical greenhouse,
gallery of human zoology,
tree of life, Tierra del Fuego,
paths leading to the sky,
observatory of our memories,
museum of the end of the world.
 The Team of creation

Emma Darwin will be the fruit of different artistic

collaborations.

Temporary distribution

Artistic Direction : Mauricio CELEDON.

Choreographies : Lhacen HAMED BEN BELLA and
Mauricio CELEDON. Musical Composition and
Direction : Carlos FIERRO, Pablo QUEZADA.
Scenography : Marcelo PIZARRO. Costumes creation :
Claudia VERDEJO. Lighting Creation : Christophe
SCHAEFFER assisted by David BOUTTENOT. Actors :
Claire JOINET, Julie JOURDES, Claudia VERDEJO, Lhacen
HAMED BEN BELLA, Nelson ESTIBILL, Luis
HORMAZABAL. Musicians : Jean-Michel RAUSSOU,
Favio VILLARROEL. Sound Technician : Francisco
ARAYA. Lighting Technician : David BOUTTENOT or
Christophe SCHAEFFER. Graphics : Gala MARTINOYA
 Partners and co-producers

The partners and the co-producers of the project, in the current day
CO-PRODUCERS
LES ATELIERS FRAPPAZ in Villeurbanne - Centre métropolitain des Arts de
la Rue
CO-PRODUCERS – RESIDENCE OF CREATION :
LES ATELIERS FRAPPAZ in Villeurbanne - Centre métropolitain des Arts de
la Rue
REGARD ET MOUVEMENTS - L’Hostellerie de l’Ance in Pontempeyrat
LE FOURNEAU - Centre National des Arts de la Rue en Bretagne in Brest
LE PARAPLUIE - Centre International de Création Artistique, de Recherche
et Rayonnement pour le Théâtre de Rue in Aurillac
LE MOULIN FONDU - Centre National des Arts de la Rue in Noisy-le- Sec.
IN PROGRESS
Residence in KOMPLEXKAPHARNAÜM in Villeurbanne.
SUPPORT
Emma DARWIN will be realized with the support of the french Ministry of
Culture and Communication DRAC AUVERGNE and DMDTS - Aide à la
résidence de production. 2009 Arts de la rue.

Those whom we shall seek the support in 2010

CO-PRODUCERS – RESIDENCE OF CREATION :
Résidence cin KOMPLEXKAPHARNAÜM in Villeurbanne
Festival SANTIAGO A MIL in Santiago de Chile.
SUPPORT
GOBIERNO DE CHILE : Conseil Nacional de la Cultura y de las Artes -
CNCA : Ayuda al los proyectos culturales FONDART
GOBIERNO DE CHILE : DIRAC : Programa de ayuda a los Proyectos y
Actividades Culturales en el Extranjero.
 Projected calendar of creation

APRIL 2009
From April 20th till May 02nd, 2009
REGARD ET MOUVEMENTS / l’Hostellerie de l’Ance in Pontempeyrat

JUNE 2009
From 20 till 30 June 2009
LE MOULIN FONDU in Noisy-le- Sec

OCTOBER 2009
From 05 till 25 October 2009
LES ATELIERS FRAPPAZ in Villeurbanne

APRIL 2010
In April, 2010 / 2 weeks
LE FOURNEAU in Brest

MAY 2010
In May, 2010 / 3 weeks
LE PARAPLUIE in Aurillac

In progress
In October / November, 2009 even in 2010
Residence "EnCourS" chez KOMPLEXKAPHARNÜM in Villeurbanne
SUMMARY OF THE HISTORY OF THE COMPANY
 Summary of the history of the Company

The Company Teatro del Silencio, which brings together actors, dancers, musicians, acrobats and plastic artists, was created in
Santiago de Chile in 1989. From its foundation, the Company directed its searches to a theater of the gesture and the emotion which
unites the mime, the dance and the music. This theatrical prejudice allowed him to reach a wide public. Men, women and children of
cultures, histories and different languages appreciated the originality of this theatrical "language" which allowed them to travel in the
time and the space, without barriers or borders. With the Teatro del Silencio, they liked first of all the life of the migrants who
populated America, "Transfusión" (1990) and for the history of the popular fights of Chicago at the origin of May 1st, "Ocho Horas"
(1991).

On the occasion of the centenary of Arthur Rimbaud's death, Teatro del Silencio creates "Malasangre, o tired on noches del poeta
1001" ("Bad blood, or 1001 nights of the poet" on 1991), a work which stages the tempestuous life of the poet. This spectacle met such a
success as it will be presented in front of more than hundred thousand spectators in Chile then in Latin America, on the initiative of
the most important festivals of the continent.

From 1992, Teatro del Silencio will participate in numerous festivals summer in France. This tour will meet an echo such as during
three years, "Malasangre" will be presented for numerous public of France but also, big part of the European Union, in North Africa
as well as through the big South American festivals, in alternation with a new creation, "Taca Taca, mon amour" (1993).
Contemporary vision of the crucial events which succeeded one another in Europe throughout the first part of this century; the
action takes place inside a huge table football.

In 1995, Mauricio Celedon settles down in France and is confided the stage setting of "Candides" (a free interpretation of the famous
text of Voltaire) for the Cirque Baroque.

In 1996, he stages "La Locomotive", a work by André Gintzburger at the Theater of Ranelagh in Paris.

In 1997, Teatro del Silencio creates "Nanaqui - Dossier N° 262 602 – L'Homme qui se dit poète", a pantomime of rock and fury, a
spectacle of theater-circus dedicated to Antonin Artaud that will be presented from 1997 till 2008, in Chile, in France, in Spain, in Poland
and in Germany.

From 1989 till 1997, the creations of the Teatro del Silencio were realized in Chile with the support of the Chilean Government:
Cultural Division of the Ministry of the Education, Cultural Direction of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DIRAC) and Municipalities
of Santiago and Valparaiso and with the support of the French Government: Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Chilean-French Institute of
Culture, AFAA, DAI).
The 1999 marks a decisive step in the evolution of the Company. Teatro del Silencio becomes established in France, in Aurillac,
thanks to the double support of the Ministry for the Arts and Communications / Regional Direction of the Cultural Affairs of
Auvergne and the City of Aurillac. It is in Auvergne where Mauricio Celedon will create "DoberMan", according to Jean - Yves Picq's
texts, with the Athra company from Clermont Ferrand. The same year Teatro del Silencio will create "Alice Underground", a spectacle
of theater-circus inspired by Lewis Carroll's work. "Alice Underground" will be presented in Europe and in Latin America during four
years.

It is as well since 1999, as numerous collaborations as director or artistic adviser will bring the artistic director of the Company to
participate in diverse projects of creation in Europe. He realizes, in 1999, the stage setting of "Palabra de Angel" for the Spanish
Company Karlik Danza Teatro and in 2002, that of "Amloii o como lo dijo Hamlet" for the Spanish Companies Karlik Danza Teatro
and Samarkanda Teatro. He collaborates as choreographer with the French Companies Metalovoice or Générik Vapeur and in Spain
with the Company Aran Dramatica and the Internacional Festival of Theater of Mérida.

Within the framework of his setting-up to Aurillac, in Auvergne, the director of the Teatro del Silencio and the Company give
numerous training courses of gesture theater and circus for professionals, students and amateurs and participate in diverse events as
the "Festivities of the Year 2000" either still, in association with the Theater of Aurillac, the "Cartes Blanches to Mauricio Celedon",
which over several weeks propose at the same moment public rehearsals, exhibitions of painting, spectacles and concerts.

In 2003 is born new circus creation, "O Divina Commedia - Inferno" created in Aurillac. Inspired by the Dante's famous work Divine
Comedy, the Company wishes, through a decoration playing on several spaces, to pursue its new collection, that of the theater-circus,
already engaged in "Alice Underground". The evolution of its searches leads the Company in this last creation to confront with the
text and with the new dimension, that of a physical theater, a theater-circus associated with the word.

In 2003 and in 2004, Teatro del Silencio realizes the project "Dante ou La Divine Comédie de la Rue ", with the support of the
"Program Culture 2000 - Education and Culture" of the European Community. This project articulated around Dante's Divine
Comedy, major work of the European literature, aiming at establishing of new and durable relations of creation with a set of cities
and European territories and with their population, by developing a creative relation with the citizens and the artists of various
generations in France, in Italy, in Spain and in Poland. This program has united artists, populations, cultural structures of four
countries, in workshops, artistic research residences, creations of spectacles, steered by Mauricio Celedon, with the complicity of the
members of his Company.

A project realized in partnership with the Association Eclat / International Festival of Street theater of Aurillac, the City of Aurillac
and its Theater, the Inteatro of Polverigi festival in Italy, the Cultural Department of the Region of Extremadura in Spain and the
Spanish Companies Karlik Danza and Aran Dramática, the International Festival of Theater Malta and the Company Polish Dance
Theatre of Poznan, in Poland.
In February, 2004, Teatro del Silencio inaugurates the new Theater of Aurillac with "Amloii o como lo dijo Hamlet" and creates in this
occasion, with comedians stemming from companies of amateur theater of Aurillac: "Le Case Büchner". A creation inspired by
"Woyzeck" and other Georg Büchner's works

In autumn 2004, Teatro del Silencio in cooperation with the Theater of Aurillac, proposes a new "Carte Blanche", a multidisciplinary
programming including a presentation of works on Pablo Neruda: "Pablo, Pablo", the programming of several spectacles, an
exhibition of painting and drawing and a free training course opened to the professionals and the amateurs of the alive spectacle.

In 2005, Teatro del Silencio in association with Karlik Danza Teatro (Spain) creates the second part of the triptych on Dante: "O
Divina la commedia - Purgatorio - A Mother and her children in the Purgatory ". Inspired by two texts: "The Dante's Purgatory" and
"Mother Courage and her children" of Brecht, the Purgatory will be presented from 2005 till 2007, in France, in Belgium, in Denmark, in Spain,
in Ireland, in Brazil, in Chile, in Colombia, in Korea.

In 2007, Teatro del Silencio finishes the creation of its triptych "O Divina la Commedia" with: "Fragments de Paradis" and "Paraíso",
two creations between street theater and inside theater which were born in spring and summer of 2007 and will be presented till 2009,
in France, in Poland, in Germany and in Chile.

At the same time as it realizes its creation, during all these years, Teatro del Silencio gives, supervised by Mauricio Celedon,
numerous theatrical training courses - Pantomime, gesture theater, theater and emotion, theater and circus, theater of the gesture
and the texts - organized for students (school, theater classes) for amateurs and for professionals.
 The creations of Teatro del Silencio

1989 : GARGANTUA

1990 : TRANSFUSION

1991 : OCHO HORAS

1991 : MALASANGRE OU LES 1001 NUITS DU POÈTE

1993 : TACA TACA, MON AMOUR

1995 : CANDIDES - Pour la compagnie française du Cirque Baroque

1996 : LA LOCOMOTIVE, pièce de André Gintzburger - 1996

1997 : NANAQUI – DOSSIER N° 262 602 – L’HOMME QUI SE DIT POÈTE

1998 : MEDEA en collaboration avec la Cie espagnole Aran Dramática

1999 : DOBERMAN, Textes de Jean Yves Picq, pour la Cie clermontoise Athra

1999 - ALICE UNDERGROUND

1999 : PALABRA DE ANGEL pour la Cie espagnole Karlik Danza

2002 : AMLOII O COMO LO DIJO HAMLET pour les Cies espagnoles Karlik Danza et Samarkanda Teatro

2002 : AGRIPINE, en collaboration avec la Cie espagnole Aran Dramática

2003 : O DIVINA LA COMMEDIA - INFERNO

2004 : LE CAS BÜCHNER, avec des Cies de théâtre amateur aurillacoises

2005 : O DIVINA LA COMMEDIA – UNE MÈRE ET SES ENFANTS AU PURGATOIRE en collaboration
et coproduction avec Karlik Danza

2007 : O DIVINA LA COMMEDIA – PARAÍSO
 CONTACT

Teatro del Silencio

tsilencio@free.fr
www.teatrodelsilencio.net
(+ 33) (0) 1 48 51 06 77
(+ 33) (0) 6 11 89 27 35

THE TEATRO DEL SILENCIO IS SUBSIDIZED BY:

THE FRENCH MINISTRY OF CULTURE AND COMMUNICATION - DIRECTION RÉGIONALE DES AFFAIRES CULTURELLES D’AUVERGNE / DRAC AUVERGNE