Paris names opera director to mastermind 2024 Olympics
NewsThe person chosen to devise the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2024 Paris Olympics is a young theatre and opera director of considerable obscurity and a Shakespearean fixation.
His name is Thomas Jolly.
‘Since 2010, he has been working on William Shakespeare’s Henry VI, a theatrical saga lasting eighteen hours,’ according to the Opéra de Paris, where he staged Eliogabalo by Francesco Cavalli.
His next show there is Gounod’s Romeo et Juliette, based on you-know-who. During Covid, he played both lead roles from the balcony of his apartment.
Let the Games begin.
photo: Netherlands Opera
Goodness…and how did he manage to wriggle his way into this?
Pure talent according to press releases I’m sure. The nepotism and shoe licking and the money are all just coincidental.
Nepotism? His father is a printer, his mother a nurse. Could you please prove your accusation? Or is that asking too much?
He’s 40 years old and in France he’s not obscure at all. He founded a theatre company 16 years ago, and 4 years ago he opened the Avignon theatre festival.
He’s actually better known as a theatre director than an opera director. His Henri VI adaptation, a 18-hours epic marathon, made headlines at the 2014 Avignon festival and was sold out everywhere it has toured. Many of those in the audience hailed him as a very special talent.
Of course, since his activity has mostly been… in France, and focused on theater (not movies or anything more popular), he’s not widely known internationally. Please watch his works before complaining…
Oh great, a French opera director, expect nude mimes with floppy penises and boobs and flabby butts.
It sounds like an audacious gamble.
For olympic winter games in 1992, France choose the young choreographor Philippe Decouflé (31 years old), who made a very original ceremony, considered as a big success.
I guess they thought about it. I am sure that Macron who was a teenager in 1992 has approved
this choice.
Let’s not forget that Macron is, himself, a theatre lover.