
Agathe Mélinand
Dramaturg, Librettist
Agathe Mélinand has not completely rewritten the text; rather reshaped and cut some of the longer sections, thus proving that without any need for any "dusting off" of the texts, the spectators still laugh at the original texts when the burlesque, the hero-comedy and the absurd are handled with so much skill.
Agathe Mélinand enjoys a successful career as director, dramaturg and librettist in opera and theatre. In the opera house Agathe has produced new dialogues and adaptations of numerous libretti. Projects in 2022-23 include Lakmé for Opéra Comique and La Périchole for the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, both with director Laurent Pelly. Other current work includes an adaptation of Offenbach’s Le voyage dans la Lune for Opéra Comique, dialogues for Offenbach’s Barbe Bleue at Opéra de Lyon and Opéra de Marseille, and additional texts (derived from Goethe’s Faust) for Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust at the 2019 Glyndebourne Festival (director Richard Jones). Also an adaptation of Offenbach’s Le Roi Carotte for Opéra de Lyon – winner of the Best Rediscovered Work category at the International Opera Awards – and Berlioz’s Béatrice et Bénédict for the Glyndebourne Festival.
Autumn 2021 saw the french-language premiere of her new translation of Harvey by Mary Chase at TNP-Villurbaine (Lyon), directed by Laurent Pelly and which continues to tour during 2022-23. Other theatre work includes the writing and direction of Le Petit Livre d'Anna Magdalena Bach - inspired by the film Chronique d’Anna Magdalena Bach (Jean-Marie Straub and Danièle Huillet) and based around the Notenbüchlein für Anna Magdalena Bach - premiered at MC2 Grenoble in January 2020 and touring in the current season.