LIVE from NYPL: NOTES FROM UNDERGROUND: Patrice Chéreau at Symphony Space

Patrice Chéreau delivers Dostoyevsky's ferocious and imprecatory monologue Notes from Underground, a magnificent, full frontal assault on Enlightenment rationalism and the very idea of progress. In this extraordinary performance, Patrice Chéreau , a dazzling innovator and one of the most remarkable and celebrated directors in French theater and, lately, cinema, is supremely judicious in the intensity of every syllable and gesture, bringing Dostoyevsky's at once self-loathing and egocentric character, symbol of a generation living on borrowed time, vividly to life.

Performed in French with English Titles
French translation by André Markowicz

About Patrice Chéreau:

The expansive talent of Patrice Chéreau over the past four decades has earned him plaudits and prestige in the international arena ? from theatre to opera (including a now-legendary direction of Wagner's Ring in Bayreuth), to cinema. Following the worldwide success of Queen Margot (starring Isabelle Adjani) in 1994, and Intimacy in 1999, his new film, Gabrielle, opens this fall (with Isabelle Huppert). But Chéreau is as passionate as ever about theatre and literature. This new film coincides with his directorial return to the stage with a much-awaited Cosi fan tutte, and his own performance of a stripped-down reading of Notes from Underground, Dostoyevsky's diatribe to a generation living on borrowed time. A voice and a presence alone on a bare stage -- the roots of theatre.

Co-presented with Symphony Space and Act French

This performance is part of Act French: A Season of New Theater from France. Six months of intriguing ideas and performances from the frontlines of French culture in adventurous theaters citywide, July 15 - December 15, 2005, www.actfrench.org. Act French is made possible by the Cultural Services of the French Embassy in the United States, Association Fran?aise d?Action Artistique (AFAA), and The French Ministry of Culture and Communication.