Autobiographical novels are sometimes associated with youth, but The Lover was published in 1984, when Duras was 70, which is to say it was a work that arrived late in her career as a writer—and also late in her career as a serious alcoholic, though The Lover was written during a period of relatively new sobriety.
So much of the novel's obsessive quality is laid bare before the reader: youth, death, the scars carved out by history and experience and captures the essence as opposed to the reality.
In The Lover, the multitudes of events that can exist within a single experience, and the way those occurrences pour outward over the course of a life create a vivid touching picture for the audience. The story approaches the affair and its consequences from a multitude of angles, which makes it raw and almost tangible.
What's especially touching, is that its closed and open in the same way experience, and even artistic process, is. This story is the perfect template for a Contemporary expressive piece. In combination with Goecke's choreographic artistic language is bound to produce an outstanding and compelling journey for the audience. The Lover will be the first creation of a brandnew dance company that will be established in Hannover.
Marco Goecke, resident choreographer of the Stuttgart Ballet from 2005 to 2018 and “Associate Choreographer” at the prestigious Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT) in The Hague will lead the ballet direction at State Opera Hannover from the season 2019/20.
For the production of “The Lover” he will work together with the German set and costume designer Michaela Springer. The light design will be handled by Udo Haberland and the piece will be accompanied by dramaturge Nadja Kadel.