Photo © Aglaé Bory
Created in October 2011 at Le Grand T, Nantes
With Mathieu Bleton, Raphaëlle Boitel, Olivier Boyer, Pierre Cartonnet, Sarah Cosset, Nicolas Lourdelle, Marlène Rostaing, Yingchun Yu
Conception, scenography and direction Aurélien Bory
Artistic collaborations Pierre Rigal, Albena Dimitrova, Olivier Alenda
Original music Alain Kremski
Additional music Joël Abriac
Lighting design Arno Veyrat
Director's assistant Sylvie Marcucci
Technical managers Joël Abriac, Tristan Baudoin, François Saintemarie, Arno Veyrat
Sound engineer Stéphane Ley
Recording studio Charles Eddi
Technical direction Arno Veyrat
Set design and construction Pierre Dequivre and Atelier La Fiancée du pirate - Toulouse
Costume design Sylvie Marcucci
Production, administration and booking Florence Meurisse, Christelle Lordonné
Press Dorothée Duplan, Agence Plan Bey
Production Compagnie 111- Aurélien Bory
Coproduction Le Grand T - Scène conventionnée Loire-Atlantique /Nantes, TNT - Théâtre National de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées, Parc de La Villette/Paris , CIRCa Auch Gers Midi Pyrénées, Cirque-théâtre d'Elbeuf - Centre des arts du cirque de Haute Normandie, Théâtre Firmin Gémier La Piscine – Pôle national des arts du cirque/Antony, Bonlieu - Scène nationale/Annecy, Le Volcan - Scène nationale/Le Havre, Le Parvis - Scène nationale de Tarbes Pyrénées, Théâtre de Caen.
Residencies Théâtre Garonne/Toulouse, L'Usine - lieu conventionné Arts de la rue/Tournefeuille, Le Grand T - scène conventionnée Loire Atlantique/Nantes
Compagnie 111 – Aurélien Bory has benefited from the support from Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication - Direction Régionale Affaires Culturelles Midi Pyrénées, Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication - Direction Générale de la Création Artistique, Région Midi-Pyrénées, Conseil Général de la Haute-Garonne, Ville de Toulouse
Compagnie 111 - Aurélien Bory has benefited from the support from la Fondation BNP Paribas pour le développement de ses projets.
Compagnie 111 - Aurélien Bory is associate artist of Le Grand T, Scène conventionnée Loire-Atlantique/Nantes.
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PERFORMANCES
Season 2011-2012
NANTES Creation Le Grand T October 11th > 16th 2011
AUCH Festival CIRCa October 24th > 28th
LE HAVRE Le Volcan - Scène nationale November 9th > 12th
ANTONY Théâtre Firmin Gémier La Piscine December 1st > 11th
ELBEUF Cirque-Théâtre April 13th > 15th 2012
TARBES Le Parvis - Scène nationale April 26th > 27th
TOULOUSE Port Viguerie/TNT - Théâtre Garonne - Ville de Toulouse May 9th > 15th
ANNECY Bonlieu - Scène nationale May 22nd > 26th
CAEN Théâtre de Caen June 12th > 15th
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AURÉLIEN BORY'S INTERVIEW
Extracts from Aurelien Bory's interview with Manuel Piolat Soleymat in April 2011
What was the starting point of this new creation ?
Originally, there was a conversation with Marc Jeancourt in April 2008. His wish was to discuss the concept of the marquee, with a view to embracing and supporting projects that would renew the scenographical genres usually set in this connoted place. He asked me what my thoughts were, and if I would consider embarking on a creation with a marquee. I longed for an idea that could not be transferable anywhere else.
Each of your creation emerges from an investigation on the concept of space. What is the determining scenographical interrogation, at the origin of Géométrie de Caoutchouc (Rubber Sheet Geometry) ?
The origin was the marquee itself. I meant to consider this specific space in a purely literal study. I pictured that the marquee needed to be at the heart of the scenography, and I came up with the idea of using a smaller replica of the venue as the key element of the set-design.
Theatre is inherently an art of space in your opinion...
Indeed. Every extent of my work, including dramaturgy itself, is a variation around the core-concept of Space. With this new creation, Géométrie de caoutchouc (Ruber Sheet Geometry), I pursue the exploration instigated by my previous works : my aim is to allow the pre-« existing » to trigger the creation. In this instance, the « existing » core is the marquee. The usual undertones connotated by this particular place are a reduction of its actual nature and history. For example, it is usually unknown that the word « scène », stage in French, comes from the ancient Greek « skene », meaning « tent ». Thus, theater started with the setting of a tent.
A smaller representation set within its duplicate, thus exploring the concept of a russian-dolls abstraction...
The objective is to stage a mise-en-abyme of space, with the intention of approaching the notion of void : a specific space –a container- is itself a content of a larger duplicate. The notion of void is quintessential to the concept of space. I've often believed that art could be contemplated as an activity that generates void, a shallow vacuum where the audience can project their own imaginary worlds.
What elements intervene in the scenic choreography of Géométrie de caoutchouc ?
The small size marquee replica is set into motion by eight actors who literally embrace and grasp and tackle the rubbery malleability of this moving space. They follow its upliftings, comply with its collapses, somehow reminding us of a puppet-show. I wanted to work on the idea of wonder, foreshadowed by the choice of a marquee to host the show, and yet remaining intrinsically elusive...
An analogy emerges between the bodies of the actors and the canvas of the tent...
Yes. The boundaries between the scenography and the actors are porous. In all my creations, at some point in the process, objects can be turned into actors, and actors can become objects. The artists on stage have exhaustively trained skills in the arts of the circus. Their performances onstage are intensely athletic. Their very bodies can be apprehended as rubber sheet geometry. Similar to the canvas of the marquee, their bodies are manifold, creased compounds. Both can be fragile spaces.
In a way, this work allows us to apprehend the marquee as a space of modernity, a space for contemporary creation...
I enjoy altering, shifting around expectations... Ideally, I would want for Géométrie de caoutchouc to have as many interpretations as attending playgoers. I try and leave a key role to the spectator. It is eventually the audience itself who accomplishes the creation.
The specific acknowledgement you harbor for imagination in your work is once more fundamental
Experimenting imaginary worlds is preeminently a human peculiarity. I devote my work to exhibit an « imagination » that is deeply anchored within the laws of physics surrounding us. The stage is one of the only art fields where the laws of general mechanics cannot be escaped.
