Jérôme Bel on rehearsing

“I write the shows before meeting the actors. Without a doubt this is due to laziness because I don't like rehearsing at all. Besides, I find these rehearsals more and more pointless. It seems to me that there is only one type of theatrical practice possible for me, that is to say, the public performance. Writing the piece, alone or with a circle of a few loyal and understanding assistants around me, and rehearsing with the performers are only risky speculations because theatre cannot be done without the presence of the public which changes everything. The comparison to a writer is pertinent only in as much as a writer writes for the 'empty page' of a book, and I do for the 'black box' of the stage. As for improvisation, I feel it's a totally overestimated practice in the choreographic field today. The presupposition of freedom and authenticity of the subject generally accepted by improvisers seems to me to show an extremely naïve attitude. People like Foucault, Deleuze or Bourdieu have shown how illusory such an idea is. Neuroscientific research only confirms what they say a little more each day. The many improvised shows that I've been able to see all over the world in recent years have only shown me the unbelievable conformism of the results of this practice, which is nothing to be ashamed of, far from it, but which, I think, needs to be reexamined by anyone who uses it.”

Jérôme Bel and Gerald Siegmund, extract from interview in Ballet International/Tanz Aktuell, September 2002.