Ballet

Play

Alexander Ekman

Palais Garnier

from 28 September to 06 November 2021

2h05 with 1 interval

Play

Palais Garnier - from 28 September to 06 November 2021

Synopsis

Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman’s first ballet for the dancers of the Paris Opera, Play, had its world premiere at the Palais Garnier in December 2017. The choreographer brings the performers onto a vast playground where emotions and imagination are given free rein. To an original score by Mikael Karlsson the dancers’ bodies metamorphose into stag-like silhouettes or dive into a field of coloured balls. A performance replete with communicative energy, Play combines dance, theatre, music and song in a profound, festive and at times farcical spirit that is rich with humour.

Duration : 2h05 with 1 interval

  • Opening

  • First part 45 min

  • Intermission 20 min

  • Second part 60 min

  • End

Media

  • A space for improvisation

    A space for improvisation

    Watch the video

  • Behind the scenes of Play

    Behind the scenes of Play

    Read the article

  • The Opera is showing off: Play

    The Opera is showing off: Play

    Read the article

  • Stage memories: Caroline Osmont

    Stage memories: Caroline Osmont

    Watch the video

  • Play: Alexander Ekman choreographs play

    Play: Alexander Ekman choreographs play

    See the slideshow

A space for improvisation

Watch the video

Simon Le Borgne rehearses Play

6:17 min

A space for improvisation

By Antony Desvaux

For the revival of Play, created by Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman in 2017 at the Paris Opera, Octave magazine talks to dancer Simon Le Borgne. He explains how he embraces the space for improvisation offered by the choreographer at various key moments in the ballet. He also talks about his role as a soloist. Ever on the sidelines of the group, his character alternates between playful youth and the adulthood of a "working man", seemingly capable of giving the dancers and spectators back their childhood soul at every instant.

© Ann Ray / OnP

Behind the scenes of Play

Read the article

Last rehearsals

02 min

Behind the scenes of Play

By T. M. Rives

"Astound me!" Challenging Jean Cocteau in this way, Serge Diaghilev, the entrepreneur of Les Ballets Russes, invited the young artist to create for his company. Over a century later, Alexander Ekman, the new wunderkind of dance, has made this injunction his own, and astounds audiences in theatres all over the world, reaching out to them through spectacular and inventive pieces full of mischievous, incisive energy. Play, his first creation for the Paris Opera Ballet on 2017, is typical of his approach, which draws viewers into a whirlwind of sensations while raising serious questions about the world. To original music by Mikael Karlsson, he explores play through the various stages of life, and wonders what adults do with their childhood games. The director T.M. Rives, another fellow traveller, went behind the scenes at the opera and filmed three sequences of the creative process.     

The Buddies

Play (Alexander Ekman) - Teaser « The Buddies »

Meute de Fnerfs

Play (Alexander Ekman) - Teaser « Meute de Fnerfs »

Pas de deux

Play (Alexander Ekman) - Teaser « Pas de deux »

The Off Lady

Play (Alexander Ekman) - Teaser « The Off lady »

© Marion Fayolle

The Opera is showing off: Play

Read the article

When illustrators interpret the19/20 Season their way

01 min

The Opera is showing off: Play

By Marion Fayolle

Octave gives free reins to some illustrators to portray their way the 19/20 Season, by revisiting one show poster of their choice. Marion Fayolle decided to illustrate the ballet Play by Alexander Ekman.
© Marion Fayolle

© Ann Ray / OnP

Stage memories: Caroline Osmont

Watch the video

Sujet talks to us about Play

6:57 min

Stage memories: Caroline Osmont

By Octave

The video streams offered by the Paris Opera allow you to discover or rediscover some of the productions that have marked recent seasons. Alongside the videos, Octave invited a number of artists who participated in these productions to add their own personal touch. Willingly playing along, they agreed to film themselves at home in order to relate their experiences, share their memories of rehearsals and performances and discuss the technical and artistic challenges of their roles. They also explain how they continue their artistic activity, whilst waiting to return to the stage and their public.

© Ann Ray / OnP

See the slideshow

Photo coverage

03 min

Play: Alexander Ekman choreographs play

By Nicolas Doutey, Ann Ray

In 2017, Alexander Ekman created his first piece for the Paris Opera Ballet. This season, he comes back and invites the dancers of the company to dive, once more, into his world. Here, play is everything and everywhere. From the props to the sets. For, as the choreographer repeats, play makes us happy; one should never stop being a child. In the Massenet and Blanchine studios, photographer Anne Deniau focusses on certain emblematic props from this production, whilst playwright Nicolas Doutey reflects upon these new visual compositions.


© Ann Ray / OnP

Composition with man on cube, doors, projector and yellow ball. Amongst all the other elements that he works with, Alexander Ekman pays particular attention to visual compositions in Play – sometimes, a chance repetition (as is the case here) also provides him with compositional perspectives.

© Ann Ray / OnP

“Let’s say that one is like a scientist, that one experiments on play in the laboratory.” The laboratory in question is the Massenet Studio, six floors down, in the basement of Opera Bastille; the notebook and the bottle of water are essential props. Alexander directs operations either from his chair or, more often, on stage: the game creates the desire to play, it’s a laboratory where you want to get right inside the test tube.

© Ann Ray / OnP

Balls of different sizes and colours, skipping ropes, a cage on wheels. If the one serves to store the others, it’s only because we are backstage: on stage, everything is a plaything, with or without balls.

© Ann Ray / OnP

“Try and find honesty in the game”, says Alexander frequently during rehearsals. You can’t just pretend to play: if you do, you’re not playing. This is doubtless the reason why, during the three-month rehearsal period, he wanted to give himself time for experimentation and research with the dancers, and with each one, their particular game space. There is a model, there are structures, there are lines, but each time the play is singular.

© Ann Ray / OnP

Hands are on the alert, some of them show it more than others, each in his/her own way. Feet, too, in comfortable trainers, like starting blocks. When one sits down in Play, the urge to play is never far away, one might be tempted to jump up at any moment.

© Ann Ray / OnP

The forty thousand plastic balls constituting the “swimming pool” in the second rehearsal room, the Balanchine Studio, have a particularly amusing characteristic: however one moves amongst them, there are always a couple that start flying about. Each movement creates its counterpoint in the air.

  • [TRAILER] PLAY by Alexander Ekman
  • [TRAILER] PLAY by Alexander Ekman
  • [EXTRAIT] PLAY by Alexander Ekman
  • [EXTRAIT] PLAY by Alexander Ekman
  • [EXTRAIT] PLAY by Alexander Ekman
  • [EXTRAIT] PLAY by Alexander Ekman
  • [EXTRAIT] PLAY by Alexander Ekman
  • [EXTRAIT] PLAY by Alexander Ekman

Access and services

Palais Garnier

Place de l'Opéra

75009 Paris

Public transport

Underground Opéra (lignes 3, 7 et 8), Chaussée d’Antin (lignes 7 et 9), Madeleine (lignes 8 et 14), Auber (RER A)

Bus 20, 21, 27, 29, 32, 45, 52, 66, 68, 95, N15, N16

Calculate my route
Car park

Q-Park Edouard VII16 16, rue Bruno Coquatrix 75009 Paris

Book your parking spot

At the Palais Garnier, buy €10 tickets for seats in the 6th category (very limited visibility, two tickets maximum per person) on the day of the performance at the Box offices.

In both our venues, discounted tickets are sold at the box offices from 30 minutes before the show:

  • €25 tickets for under-28s, unemployed people (with documentary proof less than 3 months old) and senior citizens over 65 with non-taxable income (proof of tax exemption for the current year required)
  • €40 tickets for senior citizens over 65

Get samples of the operas and ballets at the Paris Opera gift shops: programmes, books, recordings, and also stationery, jewellery, shirts, homeware and honey from Paris Opera.

Palais Garnier
  • Every day from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and until performances end
  • Get in from Place de l’Opéra or from within the theatre’s public areas
  • For more information: +33 1 53 43 03 97

Palais Garnier

Place de l'Opéra

75009 Paris

Public transport

Underground Opéra (lignes 3, 7 et 8), Chaussée d’Antin (lignes 7 et 9), Madeleine (lignes 8 et 14), Auber (RER A)

Bus 20, 21, 27, 29, 32, 45, 52, 66, 68, 95, N15, N16

Calculate my route
Car park

Q-Park Edouard VII16 16, rue Bruno Coquatrix 75009 Paris

Book your parking spot

At the Palais Garnier, buy €10 tickets for seats in the 6th category (very limited visibility, two tickets maximum per person) on the day of the performance at the Box offices.

In both our venues, discounted tickets are sold at the box offices from 30 minutes before the show:

  • €25 tickets for under-28s, unemployed people (with documentary proof less than 3 months old) and senior citizens over 65 with non-taxable income (proof of tax exemption for the current year required)
  • €40 tickets for senior citizens over 65

Get samples of the operas and ballets at the Paris Opera gift shops: programmes, books, recordings, and also stationery, jewellery, shirts, homeware and honey from Paris Opera.

Palais Garnier
  • Every day from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. and until performances end
  • Get in from Place de l’Opéra or from within the theatre’s public areas
  • For more information: +33 1 53 43 03 97

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