Playing cards : Spades

Regular deck: 52 cards. 4 colours. 4 royal families. 2 jokers. 
Tarot deck: 78 cards. 4 symbols. 4 royal families. 21 arcana or trump cards. 1 joker.

Card games consist of a series of rules, symbols, signs, mathematical or numerological structures, mythologies, and, above all, characters. By combining and ordering them, you can create as many stories as there are possible arrangements. At least that’s the intuition guiding Robert Lepage and his collaborators on the project called Playing Cards. With such a range of possibilities, the creators imposed the structure of a deck of cards on the project. It will consist of four parts: SPADES, HEARTS, DIAMONDS, andCLUBS, each exploring a universe inspired by the asset the suit represents.

Research into the origin of cards invariably leads back to the Arab world. The tetralogy’s four parts, each independent and yet interrelated with the others, will make up a cosmos dealing with our past, present and future relationships, our exchanges, and sometimes too, our culture shocks when encountering the Arab way of life.

Playing Cards 1: SPADES 
The first part, SPADES, explores the theme of war. The action juxtaposes two desert cities, at the moment in history when the United States invades Iraq. On one side is Las Vegas, a caricature of the Western World’s values, and on the other, Bagdad, bombed by President Bush in the name of promoting democracy.

This Tower of Babel, the gambling capital, brings together characters of different origins and affinities. During a weekend on the Strip, they will reveal the city’s multifaceted identity: the kingdom of showbiz and bling, a lieu of passage, a multicultural crossroads, a place where anything goes, a meeting point between wealth (sometimes extreme) and poverty.

Beyond luck, chance and excess, Las Vegas is also unveiled as an empire of illusions, escape and vertigo. These characters – like the gambling city that chooses to keep on playing even though the country is at war – will fight private battles with their demons here, in hopes of resolving their own contradictions.

How will the game turn out: decay or redemption? All bets are on. 

Source: www.lacaserne.net

Director
Robert Lepage
Director assistant
Félix Dagenais (ATOMIC3)
Dramaturg
Peder Bjurman
Text
Sylvio Arriola, Carole Faisant, Nuria Garcia, Tony Guilfoyle, Martin Haberstroh, Robert Lepage, Sophie Martin, Roberto Mori
Original music composed and performed by
Philippe Bachman
Set designer
Jean Hazel
Lighting designer
Louis-Xavier Gagnon-Lebrun (ATOMIC3)
Sound designer
Jean-Sébastien Côté
Costumes designers
Sébastien Dionne
Props designer
Virginie Leclerc
Image designer
David Leclerc
Production
Ex Machina
Created in
Madrid / Spain
2012 

On tour since May 2012

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