Monsieur Vénus - Athénée

Based on Rachilde’s Monsieur Vénus. Music by Martin Matalon. Adaptation by Alfredo Arias. Directed and choreographed by Alfredo Arias and Diana Theocharidis. Costumes by Chloé Obolensky, assisted by Luca Costigliolo. Sound design by Rémi Le Taillandier. Lighting by Alfredo Arias.

Cast: Raoule de Vénérande, Clara Barbier Serrano (soprano); L’Intruse, Diana Theocharidis (actress and dancer); Anthony Millet (bandoneon, accordion, accordina). With the participation of Alfredo Arias. 20h16h on Sundays. Running time 1h10.

Monsieur Vénus by Rachilde is one of the most provocative and, ahead of its time, one of the most queer novels in French literature.

Alfredo Arias and Diana Theocharidis chose to bring this work to the stage as a monodrama sung by Clara Barbier Serrano, accompanied by the accordions of Martin Matalon.

A minimalist form for a boundless passion: that of Raoule, who both shapes and destroys the being she desires and the woman she herself is.

Written in 1884 and published with the dedication “We dedicate this book to physical beauty”, Rachilde’s novel Monsieur Vénus is regarded as one of the most scandalous and provocative works of its era.

It was banned and then censored, and its author, a young Parisian aristocrat aged just 24, had to face the legal consequences.

Monsieur Vénus tells the story of Raoule de Vénérande, an aristocrat and femme fatale, and Jacques Silvert, a young man of the people who falls into Raoule’s hands. Both are caught in an unequal relationship in which she imposes an inversion of their genders and sexes.

Yet it is not the desire to escape boredom or the pursuit of sexual pleasure that drives Raoule, but the radical ambition to create a new identity for herself, one more satisfying than the monotonous and oppressive social role imposed on her.