Atys, Lully’s most famous opera, aroused hilarious parodies throughout the eighteenth century. Jean-Philippe Desrousseaux and his team endeavor to revive this caustic and buffoon spirit through a creation for singers, puppets and musicians.
Princes, princesses and kings are relegated to the roles of peasants, fruit and vegetable sellers and fishmongers, in a universe transposed to the countryside: the original text exploits the ambivalent semantic register of the “jardinet” (yard) of Cybèle who seeks her “gardener”. From Queen of the Heavens, Cybèle becomes the grandmother of the Gods; the valiant Atys is played by the mocking Polichinelle; the gentle Sangaride takes the features of Marguerite, a backward farm-wife. Around a luxurious baroque puppet theater, between Olympus and a barnyard, an intense drama is played: out of spite, Cybèle will command her dog to inoculate Marguerite with rabies and transform Polichinelle into a castrated chicken…