Le Sommet

What kind of summit is Christoph Marthaler's Le Sommet all about? In German, sommet is Gipfel, a word that can be translated as summit like the top of a mountain, as summit in the sense of a major political congress, but also as... croissant, the well-known Parisian viennoiserie. So who are these climbing specialists, congress participants and/or pastry chefs? As is often the case in the Swiss director's shows, the answers to these questions are not clear-cut. It's in the in-betweens, in the in-between states, when side paths seem to emerge, always ready to be deviated from, in the uncertain meanders of human thought and action. The man or woman who, just a moment ago, was kneading dough, suddenly takes the microphone to call the nations of the world to action. He or she who planted safety pitons in the rock, suddenly intones the song "Up on the mountain" with a chorus of mountaineers, without anyone being sure whether he or she is witnessing the endless sunrise or its final sunset. Only one thing seems incontestable: from early May 2025, Christoph Marthaler will be setting off on an expedition into inhospitable lands with an ensemble of Italian, French, Swiss, Austrian and Scottish actors and musicians. And anyone who wants to find out if there are summits

in this adventure will have to wait and see