Jean Racine

Hippolyte et Aricie

In October 1733, the audience at the Académie Royale de Musique witnessed the birth of a revolutionary work: Hippolyte et Aricie. With its inventiveness and musical richness, Rameau’s opera marks a break in the history of French music. A similarly revolutionary duo – Jeanne Candel and Raphaël Pichon – get to grips with this work for the Opéra Comique.

Bajazet - Considering the Theatre and the Plague

Frank Castorf has adapted Racine and combined this material with texts by Artaud. His art of theatrical and vital immoderation explores how, when it comes to this classical French author, the tragedy of existence is born from collusions between private passions and power.

Jarrell: Bérénice

Titus and Berenice love each other; under the watchful eye of Antiochus, the hopeless lover, they try yet refuse to understand each other. Taking up the “majestic sadness” of these alexandrines, among the greatest verses in the French language, Michael Jarrell amplifies the power of words, making them a vehicle for spaces and identities that, from Rome to Jerusalem, are unceasingly questioned.

Iphigénie

A staging of Jean Racine's play "Iphigénie" by Chloé Dabert.

Britannicus

A staging of Jean Racine's play "Britannicus" by Jean-Louis Martinelli.

Andromaque

A staging of Jean Racine's play "Andromaque" by Anne Théron.

Bérénice

A staging of Jean Racine's play "Bérénice" by Jean-Louis Martinelli.

National Theatre Live: Phèdre

A new English adaptation of the classic French tragedy Phèdre by Jean Racine (1639-1699). It retells the ancient Greek tale of the wife of the Atenian King Theseus, who conceived a forbidden love for his son (by an earlier wife) Hyppolytus. All ends badly for all.

De son Appartement

The continuing demand for high standards is what sets Rouseau's work apart. What makes this film distinctive is the way Rousseau explicitly returns to the source of his creative inspiration. So here he is at home reciting «Bérénice» to himself, whilst going about his household chores. It verges on the comical: There are repeated shots of him obstinately trying to turn off a dripping tap, or the jubilant close up of bare feet carried away in performing a dance step or two. Combining art with life in such a way, that nothing is compartmentalised, nothing lost - that is the goal.

Bérénice

An adaptation of Jean Racine's tragedy which depicts the thwarted loves of Antiochus, Titus (the future emperor of Rome) and Berenice (the queen of Palestine).

Ermione

Recorded at the Glyndebourne Festival Opera in 1995, this acclaimed presentation of composer Gioachino Rossini's epic opus ERMIONE is based on Jean Racine's play "Andromache." Set in Troy after the city fell to the Greeks, the production recounts the rancorous battle between widow Andromache and Helen of Troy's green-eyed daughter, Ermione for the love of Pyrrhus

Bérénice

Now Titus' father has died, the new emperor will be free to marry his beloved Bérénice. Also In love with Bérénice, Titus' friend Antiochus plans to flee Rome rather than face the marriage. However, public opinion about the pairing causes Titus to choose his duty to Rome over his love for Bérénice, and he sends his love rival to tell Bérénice the news...

Phèdre

In the absence of her royal husband Theseus, thought to be dead, Phaedra declares her love to Hippolyte, Theseus's son from a previous marriage.

Iphigénie

On the shores of Aulis, the Greeks prepare to attack Troy. But their ships are unable to set sail because the gods are holding back the winds necessary for departure. Agamemnon consults the oracle. The solution is tragic. To appease the goddess Artemis, whom he had offended, he must sacrifice his own daughter.

Britannicus

Emperor Claudius had a son, Britannicus, before marrying Agrippina and adopting her son Nero, born of a previous marriage. Nero succeeded Claudius and ruled the Empire. Despite his reign, Nero decides to free himself from his mother's yoke and take revenge on Britannicus, the brother who has everything and whom he envies.

Athalie

“The Queen of Judah has gained her throne by eliminating the Royal Princes, but one is still alive and protected by the high priest. In a dream the Queen sees the young Prince as a king. She orders an assault on the Temple but when the Priest draws back a curtain to reveal the child king on his throne, she rushes from the scene believing it to be the fulfilment of her dream (incomplete).” - BFI.