• 1 Transmettre, apprécier, créer. Hélène Duval à Bordeaux, 2017. Directed by Jean-Rémi Lapaire and pro (...)

1To the Lighthouse is rightfully considered to be Virginia Woolf’s most accomplished work of fiction. The present stage adaptation was initially conceived and performed at Université Bordeaux Montaigne, France, under the choreographic guidance of Hélène Duval (Département danse, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada). During the Spring Semester of 2017, some forty graduate students from the English, General Linguistics and Performing Arts departments were involved in writing a “minimalist script” and collecting movement material for the choreography. The workshops were held at the Arts Centre (Maison des Arts, Domaine Universitaire, Pessac). Participants reflected in pairs before engaging in activities with the rest of the group. Diaries were kept, and a film was made that documents the dynamics of the creative process (in French).1

• 2 English version, adapted from the original Italian presentation, delivered on stage by Jean-Rémi La (...)
• 3 “(When the book was written) I ceased to be obsessed by my mother. I no longer hear her voice; I do (...)

4Choreographers of speech are delighted to present a stage adaptation of Virginia Woolf’s novel To the Lighthouse (1927). Virginia Woolf was only 13 when her mother died. For many years, she was “obsessed” by the loss. Then, one day, in London, as she was walking across Tavistock Square, she felt the urge to write a piece of fiction inspired by her own childhood experience. This, she felt, was the only way she could trace her mother’s “invisible presence” in “the cathedral space” of remembrance, and be at peace with herself.3

• 4 540 words now compress 69709 words of complex narrative; 12 minutes of coordinated physical action (...)

5To the Lighthouse was written by Woolf in just a few weeks. The general structure of the novel has been entirely preserved, with its three main divisions: “The Window”, “Time Passes”, “The Lighthouse.” But the plot had to be reduced to bare essentials4 and the original set of characters cut down to three protagonists: Mr Ramsay (a figure inspired by Virginia Woolf’s own father, Leslie Stephen), Mrs Ramsay (a fictional character reminiscent of Virginia Woolf’s mother, Julia Prinsep), and the painter Lily Briscoe (a keen observer of the “patterns” of life, like Virginia Woolf herself). The young James and Cam Ramsay, as well as two older village women, also make fleeting appearances.

• 5 Université Bordeaux Montaigne. M1 Etudes Anglophones. M1 Arts du Spectacle.
• 6 Performers : Louise Bernard, Jane Cussac, Paul-Franck Dencausse, Julie Faugère, Maeva Gonfond, Solè (...)
• 7 Hélène Duval is a professor of dance pedagogy at UQAM (Université du Québec à Montréal), Canada. Wh (...)

6The performers are graduate students who are currently enrolled in two distinct masters degree programs5: 8 are English language majors (including a visiting American student from the University of California), 3 are drama specialists6 (who have co-directed this piece, initially choreographed by Hélène Duval from the University of Quebec in Montreal)7.

7In the first part (The Window), the Ramsays are shown spending their summer holidays on the Isle of Skye. Their house has a commanding view of the bay, with a lighthouse in the distance, beaming at night. The children would love to sail and deliver parcels to the lighthouse keeper. Mrs Ramsay is sensitive and supportive but, much to James’s annoyance, Mr Ramsay coldly predicts that the sea will be too rough for the excursion, and is proven right. The war breaks out (1914-18).

• 8 Teatro in Lingua, Lingua in Teatro (TILLIT 2017 - UPO), Teatro Civico, Vercelli, Piemonte, Italy, 3 (...)

9The novel uses a “small canvas” (Sampson 1970: 877), which both facilitates and legitimises compression. Major syntactic adjustments nonetheless had to be made.

• 9 The opening lines of the performance are based on “A sketch of the Past” (1939-40)– a 90 page “memo (...)
• 10 “A Sketch of the Past” in Moments of Being (1978: 84).

10V. Woolf: I feel that by writing I am doing what is far more necessary than anything else…10 One day, as I was walking, I made up To the Lighthouse. Why then? I have no notion.

11Voice: The book was written very quickly. One thing burst into another, like bubbles blown out of a pipe.

• 11 Adapted from “A Sketch of the Past” in Moments of Being (1978: 94): “Then one day walking round Tav (...)

12Voice: Ideas… voices… scenes… came from a world far away.11

• 12 Adapted from To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 1, Chapter 1, 10. “(…) if they did go to the Lig (...)

21James & Cam: Please!12

• 13 Opening line, To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 1, Chapter 1, 9.

23Mrs Ramsay: Yes, of course, if it’s fine tomorrow!13

• 14 To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 1, Chapter 1, 9.

24Mr Ramsay: But it won’t be fine!14

• 15 Adapted from To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 1, Chapter 1, 10.

31Voice: How would you like that?15

• 16 To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 1, Chapter 11, 60.

33Lily: To be silent, to be alone.16

• 17 To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 1, Chapter 17, 78.

34Mrs Ramsay: But what have I done with my life?17

• 18 To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 1, Chapter 3, 19.

36James: Perhaps it will be fine tomorrow!18

• 19 To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 1, Chapter 1, 9.

37Mr Ramsay: But it won’t be fine.19

• 20 To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 1, Chapter 2, 19.

38Chorus: No going to the Lighthouse, James!20

• 21 To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 2, Chapter 1, 117.

43Voice: One by one the lamps were all extinguished.21

• 22 Adapted from To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 2, Chapter 2, 117: “So with the lamps all put ou (...)

48Voice: Darkness.22

• 23 To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 2, Chapter 9, 128.

52Voice: Only the lighthouse beam entered the rooms for a moment.23

• 24 Adapted from To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 2, Chapter 9, 128: “It was beyond the strength o (...)

56Mrs bast (cleaner 1): They never write.24

• 25 To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 2, Chapter 3, 119.

62Voice: The nights now are full of wind and destruction!25

• 26 Adapted from To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 2, Chapter 3, 120: “[Mr Ramsay stumbling along a (...)

63Voice: Mrs Ramsay died in London, last night!26

• 27 Opening line, To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 2, Chapter 3, 119.

64Voice: But what after all is one night?27

• 28 Adapted from To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 2, Chapter 10, 133. “Then indeed peace had come. (...)

69Voice: The house is full again.28

• 29 Adapted from To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 3, Chapter 1, 137. “For really, what did she fee (...)

71Voice: And Mrs Ramsay dead!29

• 30 Opening line, To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 3, Chapter 1, 137.

72Voice: What does it mean then, what can it all mean?30

• 31 To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 3, Chapter 1, 139.

75Voice: Lily never finished that picture.31

• 32 Adapted from To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 3, Chapter 1, 140: “That man, she thought, her a (...)

81Voice: That man took!32

• 33 Adapted from To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 3, Chapter 3, 150: “(S)he brought together this (...)

85Voice: She brought everyone together!33

• 34 To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 3, Chapter 1, 140.

86Voice: Giving, giving, she had died!34

• 35 To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 3, Chapter 3, 149.

89Voice: Can’t paint. Can’t write!35

• 36 To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 3, Chapter 3, 147.

90Voice: Where to begin?36

• 37 To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 3, Chapter 3, 151.

91Voice: Life, stand still!37

• 38 To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 3, Chapter 4, 152.

95Voice: He’s sitting in the middle of the boat, with the children.38

• 39 To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 3, Chapter 4, 151.

96Voice: The sails flap over their heads.39

• 40 Adapted from To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 3, Chapter 3, 149:”And then, she reflected, ther (...)

98Voice: Mrs Ramsay on the beach. Do you remember?40

• 41 To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 3, Chapter 7, 168.

99Voice: Mrs Ramsay in all her beauty.41

• 42 To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 3, Chapter 3, 150.

100Voice: Mrs Ramsay resolved everything into simplicity.42

• 43 To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 3, Chapter 5, 162.
• 44 To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 3, Chapter 11, 186.

102Chorus: Mrs Ramsay has faded and gone.43 Mrs Ramsay! Mrs Ramsay!44

• 45 To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 3, Chapter 12, 188.

104Mr Ramsay: There’s the Lighthouse! We’re almost there!45

• 46 Adapted from To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 3, Chapter 13, 191-92: “‘He has landed,’ she sai (...)

105Lily: They have landed! It is done. It is finished!46

• 47 Closing line of To the Lighthouse ([1927] 1977), Part 3, Chapter 13, 192.

106Lily: I’ve had my vision.47

• 48 “A Sketch of the Past” in Moments of Being (1978: 95). Virginia Woolf moved to 52 Tavistock Square (...)
• 49 “A Sketch of the Past” in Moments of Being (1978: 83).
• 50 “A Sketch of the Past” in Moments of Being (1978: 81).

107Just as Virginia Woolf’s starting point was “a walk around Tavistock Square,”48 so the students’ first assignment was to go out for a stroll in a public park or around the main campus site. Hélène Duval insisted on everyone opening themselves up to their immediate surroundings and collecting sensory material that might later be reused as “composition material,” with conscious attention paid to light, colour, sound, smell, texture, motion, temperature, as well as mood changes and fleeting impressions. During the walking and sensing exercises, participants were encouraged to revisit some past situation, some special “moment” that had “come unexpectedly to the surface,” some personal “discovery” about the world or about themselves that they wanted to “go back to, turn over and explore,” to use Virginia Woolf’s own terms and artistic method.49 Hélène Duval was particularly insistent on performers gaining an embodied awareness of the creative process underlying artistic composition. In her oral and written instructions, she stressed the importance of emulating Virginia Woolf’s perception- and memory-based stance, by physically re-enacting the “walks,” by navigating their inner and outer worlds, by allowing thoughts, feelings, recollections, “moments of being” or “non being”50 to emerge. Provisions were made for students who could not engage in the outdoors exercises.

• 51 Maison des Arts, Domaine Universitaire, Pessac, France.
• 52 “A Sketch of the Past” in Moments of Being (1978: 94).

108The vast performance space at the University Arts Centre,51 where the workshops were held, symbolically stood for the “cathedral space”52 of personal memories. The students worked in pairs, then in small groups, to develop kinetic evocations of their sensations, building on Laban’s notions of “effort” and “shape” (Laban 1943). Virginia Woolf, it may be recalled, had an extraordinary capacity for registering and recalling intimate perceptions (Fusini 2006). As dynamic tableaux and short gesture phrases were composed, the pictorial element in Woolf’s narrative strategy (Lacourarie 2002), the “transparency” an “opacity” phenomena in her writings (Lanone 2013) were experienced and physically enacted.

• 53 Fr. « Trouver ce qui pourrait être la signature gestuelle du personnage. »

109Once this essential preparatory work was completed, students were instructed to develop a kinetic characterization53 of Lily Briscoe, Mr Ramsay or Mrs Ramsay. Simple movement sequences, evocative of the core personality and interactional features of the three characters, were designed and rehearsed in small groups. Thus, firm steps, angular shapes, brisk hand gestures, and sneering facial expressions were spontaneously produced by the participants to mark the tyranny and insensitive rationality of Mr Ramsay, leaving no room for the positive expression of his “stoicism” (Bradbrook 1978: 282-85). As expected, Lily Briscoe’s art and observational skills dominated in the various kinetic characterizations that were developed. Brush strokes provided a metonymic starting point to evoke Lily’s identity as a painter, but were later stylised, so that the somewhat naïve iconicity of the hand movements was ultimately overcome. Meanwhile, the quiet, unassuming, Mrs Ramsay was perceived as perpetually “giving,” walking in circles, floating meditatively about.