„Juliette ou la clé des songes“ by Boruslav Martinů, full version, directed by Clarac, Deloeuil > le lab at the Opéra de Nice Côte d'Azur. The press talks about it. Selected excerpts:

„Today's premiere marks the true rehabilitation of the opus in its entirety. We owe this delight to the healthy spirit of initiative of Bertrand Rossi, director of the Nice Opera, and to the constantly renewed wisdom of the Lab, namely the directors, set and costume designers Jean-Philippe Clarac and Olivier Deloeuil and their team.“ Anaclase, Betrand Bolognesi, 11.03.25

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„On a large overhanging video screen, we see a young man, Michel, strolling along a beach in Nice and then taking a seat on the Promenade, facing the sea. Michel now enters the museum, contemplating a deep blue canvas. Suddenly, he collapses. This is the clever premise chosen by Jean-Philippe Clarac and Olivier Deloeuil when Georges Neveux's play [editor's note: the literary source of this opera] remains unclear. Their fluid, poetic staging guides the audience.“ Diapason, François Laurent, 17.03.25

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„Le Lab, a collective made up of directors Jean-Philippe Clarac and Olivier Deloeuil, assisted on the video by Pascal Boudet and Timothée Buisson, has taken the judicious option of mise en abyme.“ Première Loge, Hervé Casini, 19.03.25

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„About this virtuoso show, impeccably crafted right down to its complex narrative (an impressive and motley gallery of characters, each more deranged than the last), it’s hard to know what to praise first. From the stage in the shape of a black box surrounded by Plexiglas walls pierced with doors and display windows, an otherworld opening and closing like so many secret passages to the world of the unconscious and dreams. From a leapfrogging, chiselled directing of actors, in which every detail takes on its full meaning, the delightful inventiveness of the costumes, which sweep across eras and styles, and the meticulous, precise lighting, which is also dreamlike.“ Le Monde, Marie-Aude Roux, 12.03.25

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„Jean-Philippe Clarac and Olivier Deloeuil, the brains as well as the driving force behind Le Lab, are no small part of the production's success. As they have so often proved elsewhere, they know how to create a universe, how to pull a thread without it ever breaking - which is anything but self-evident here, given how easy it would be to get lost in the meandering dreams and lost memories of the inhabitants of the small seaside town Michel, the protagonist, meets.“ Altamusica, Mehdi Mahdavi, 11.03.25

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„The piece is tailor-made for Jean-Philippe Clarac and Olivier Deloeuil, who have as much a sense of rhythm as they do of atmosphere.“ Le Figaro, Christian Merlin, 14.03.25

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„Le Lab, the Bordeaux-based directing duo of Jean-Philippe Clarac and Olivier Deloeuil, take on this crazy opus with explosive energy.“ Concert Classic, Vincent Borel, 11.03.25

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„For the first two acts, Jean-Philippe Clarac and Olivier Deloeuil (Le Lab) have imagined an unreal place, in which mirrors and beams of light (Christophe Pitoiset) produce a multitude of reflections and transparencies conducive to the evocation of dreams. In this dreamlike atmosphere, the surreal characters in the story can move around without any problem: no one is surprised to see the dream seller, the little Arab, the bird seller and so many others pass by, whispering or shouting the most incongruous things imaginable. Everything changes in the third act, when the audience realizes that the previous visions were just dreams fabricated by an MRI machine. The leap between the two worlds is astonishing.“ ÓperaActual, Jaume Estapà, 13.03.25

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„An elusive show, but poignant in its patchwork building of the subconscious.“ Opera Online, Thibault Vicq, 11.03.25

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„The directors' choices have resulted in a colourful, lively show, with imaginative costumes and props, and an ingenious stage set-up that multiplies the images in the mirrors on three sides of the set (...) A success.“ Forumopera, Maurice Salles, 14.03.25

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„This Nice Opera production is a complete success, offering an immersive and intellectually stimulating artistic experience.“ ClassiqueNews, Emmanuel Andrieu, 16.03.25

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„Presented for the first time in its full version, Jean-Philippe Clarac and Olivier Deloeuil (Le Lab) have come up with one of the season's finest shows.“ Resmusica, Jean-Luc Clairet, 15.03.25

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„The audience, less numerous than for mainstream shows, applauds loud and long for all the strengths of this show, which, far from being easy romantic, questions the possibility or impossibility of love, between reality and illusion.“ Olyrix, Florence Lethurgez, 13.03.25

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19.03.25