Seuls en Scène 2025 presents Le Grand Sommeil by Marion Siéfert
September 13 • 5:00 pm
Free
“With The Big Sleep, written and directed by Marion Siéfert, actress Helena de Laurens has won big. A golden score!”
— Rosita Boisseau, Le Monde
Back at Seuls en Scène after her virtual debut with a documentary film of her production Du sale! (2020) and _jeanne_dark_ (2021), Marion Siéfert brings another ferocious performance to this year’s festival. Collaborating once again with actress Helena de Laurens, Siéfert crafts a wild investigation into the fantasies and norms of adolescence and womanhood, challenging de Laurens to embody the tortures, triumphs and terrors of teenage girlhood.
A woman appears on stage. In a tartan skirt, red sweater and trainers, Helena dances. She plays Jeanne, an 11-year-old girl who was initially meant to feature in the play. Now a solo, Le Grand Sommeil (The Big Sleep) draws its strength from the glowing presence of dancer and performer Helena de Laurens. Neither adult nor girl, she is a combination of both. Her slender body stretches to infinity, she twists her disproportionate hands, a grimace passes over her sweet little face and all the while this “big kid” tells us about her life, her relationship with her family and with art. Marion Siéfert’s stage play gives specific scores to body and voice, scrutinizing the grey areas of childhood, its wild side and fantasies. Furiously intense, this performance addresses our relationship with norms, and what we need to take and transgress to be able to grow. A revelation.
In collaboration with the 18th edition of L’Alliance NY Crossing the Line Festival.
Tickets
Free and open to the public; advance tickets required. Tickets available in late August.
Reserve free tickets through University Ticketing
Performance Details
Show performed in French with English supertitles. Duration: 1 hour
See all shows in 2025 French Theater Festival
Directions
Get directions to the Hearst Theater, located on the Forum level of the Lewis Arts complex, and find other venue information for the arts complex.
Accessibility
The Hearst Theater is an accessible venue. The show will be performed in French with English supertitles.
Visit our Venues and Studios section for accessibility information about our various locations. Guests in need of access accommodations are invited to contact the Lewis Center at 609-258-5262 or email LewisCenter@princeton.edu at least one week in advance of the event date.
Additional Media
Radio France Podcast: Reality and illusion with Marion Siéfert and Mina Kavani
Photo Gallery
Photo credit: Janina Arendt
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Photo credit: Janina Arendt
Photo credit: Matthieu Bareyre
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Photo credit: Matthieu Bareyre
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About the Artists
Photo credit: Renaud Monfourny
Marion Siéfert is a writer, director, and performer. Her work lies at the intersection of several artistic disciplines and takes shape through various mediums: theatre, film, and writing. In 2015-2016, as part of her doctoral research, she was invited to the Institute for Applied Theatre Studies in Gießen, Germany. There, she developed her first piece, 2 or 3 Things I Know About You, a portrait of the audience through their Facebook profiles.
She collaborated on Nocturnes and L’Époque, two films by director Matthieu Bareyre, who also works as artistic collaborator on her stage productions. Together, they now co-write her shows as well as a forthcoming feature film.
From 2017 to 2023, she was an associate artist at La Commune, Centre Dramatique National in Aubervilliers. In 2018, she created The Big Sleep (Le Grand Sommeil), in collaboration with choreographer and performer Helena de Laurens, presented at the 2018 edition of the Festival d’Automne in Paris. In March 2019, she premiered Current Piece No. 12: DU SALE!, a duet for rapper Original Laeti and dancer Janice Bieleu. This production was awarded the Grand Jury Prize at the Fast Forward European Festival.
Her next piece, _jeanne_dark_, premiered at the 2020 Festival d’Automne in Paris. It was the first show conceived simultaneously for the stage and for Instagram and received the Digital Prize from the French Critics’ Syndicate for Theatre, Music and Dance, with a special mention.
Her most recent piece, Daddy, co-written with Matthieu Bareyre, premiered at the CNDC in Angers and at the Odéon–Théâtre de l’Europe. Since 2024, she has been an associate artist at T2G – Centre Dramatique National de Gennevilliers and Points Communs – Scène Nationale de Cergy-Pontoise.
Photo credit: Leonie Floret
Helena de Laurens is an artist, actress and dancer. She was born in 1988 and lives in Paris. Her work explores the grotesque, the grimace and metamorphosis. She wrote a thesis on Valeska Gert as part of her studies at École des hautes études en sciences sociales (EHESS). She has performed in nightclubs, museums, gardens and bookshops. She regularly collaborates with Esmé Planchon, Clara Pacotte and Sophie Bonnet-Pourpet. As a performer and choreographer, she has performed in two solos written and directed by Marion Siéfert: Le Grand Sommeil in 2018 and _jeanne_dark_ in 2020. In 2022 she starred alongside Emmanuelle Lafon and Frédéric Leidgens in Copi’s L’Homosexuel ou la difficulté de s’exprimer, directed by Thibaud Croisy.
Production Credits
Concept, direction and text: Marion Siéfert
Choreography: Helena de Laurens, Marion Siéfert
Artistic Collaboration and Performance: Helena de Laurens
Set Design and Assistant Director: Marine Brosse
Lighting Design: Marie-Sol Kim and Juliette Romens
Sound Design: Johannes Van Bebber
Costume Design: Valentine Solé
Production manager – Ziferte Productions: Anne Pollock
Production
Production: Ziferte Productions
Co-producer: La Commune – Centre Dramatique National d’Aubervilliers
Touring and Administration: Ziferte Productions, Anne Pollock
With the support of:
DRAC Île-de-France, with additional support from Studio Naxos (Frankfurt), Théâtre NanterreAmandiers, La Ménagerie de Verre as part of the Studiolab program, Le Centquatre-Paris as part of a technical residency, the CND (Centre National de la Danse) – studio residency, La Briqueterie – CDCN Val-de-Marne, Kulturamt Frankfurt, Hessische Theaterakademie, Kulturamt Gießen, Gießener Hochschule Gesellschaft, AStA of Justus Liebig University Gießen, Université Paris Nanterre, the Franco-German Youth Office (OFAJ/DFJW), and the Municipality of Chevaline
Special Thanks
Violaine Huisman & Clementine Guinchat.