In 2005, Jean-François Peyret staged the life and work of mathematician Sophie Kovalevskaïa (1850–1891), interweaving theoretical texts, biography, and technological imagination. This revealed the poetic force of her thinking. The first woman to hold a university chair in Europe, Kovalevskaïa fled Russia and fought her entire life for recognition in a scientific world that resisted her presence.

Three young actresses take on the life of Sophia Kovalevskaya and the material that inspired Jean-François Peyret’s play, Le cas de Sophie K. An invitation to revisit a process that is both dramaturgical and scientific, revolving around the actresses—much like Sophie K.’s spinning top. Or perhaps it is the other way around. At the intersection of mathematics, politics, and literature, a new Sophie emerges: a mathematical genius, a Communard, a nihilist, an author, and a poet.

Speakers

Conception & realization Jean-François Peyret and Anne Monfort
With Léa Guillemet, Apolline Taillieu and Zoé Van Herck

Co-production IRCAM / Bibliothèque publique d’information – Centre Pompidou.