Alain Maratrat, born in 1950, is a renowned French actor, theater, and opera director, celebrated for his innovative interpretations and staging. He has spent his career exploring the body as an instrument of theatrical expression, sharing his insights through workshops and classes with actors, dancers, and singers worldwide.
Maratrat was born in Paris to a family with no ties to the arts; his father was a train conductor, and his mother had left her job as a dressmaker to raise their children. He attended the Institute National des Arts du Spectacle in Brussels, Belgium, from 1969 to 1973, where he later reunited with three fellow students from his class to play their younger selves in Trente Ans a Peine, a play by Jean-Claude Carrière.
In 1974, Maratrat joined Peter Brook's International Centre for Theatre Research, becoming an active member for nearly 20 years. During this time, he acted, experimented, and traveled the world with Brook's multi-cultural ensemble of actors, dancers, musicians, and other performers. They participated in theatrical encounters with audiences in native villages, asylums, schools, and prisons, as well as traditional theaters worldwide. Working with Brook nurtured Maratrat's passion for creating theater that would touch and enliven ordinary people, regardless of their culture.
Since leaving Brook's company, Maratrat has maintained active careers as an actor, theater and opera director, and acting teacher. He has performed in films by directors Claude Berri, Amos Gitai, Michel Deville, and Alain Berberian, and in plays directed by Bruno Bayen, Philippe Mantha, Gabriel Garran, Peter Brook, Dominique Mühler, Bernard Sobel, and Gaston Jung.
Maratrat has directed numerous theatrical productions, including Ferenc Molnár's Liliom, Dumas' The Three Musketeers, Gaston Salvatore's Staline, Braz's Rencontres, Goldoni's The Impresario from Smyrna and The Dance Lesson, and Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Chekhov's The Three Sisters, Ibsen's Peer Gynt, Marivaux's The Dispute, Shakespeare's The Twelfth Night, and Schiller's Marie Stuart.
Maratrat's impressive career has earned him a Golden Mask award in 2006 for his direction of the opera Il Viaggio a Reims. Throughout his journey, he has continued to explore and innovate, leaving a lasting impact on the world of theater and opera.
