The Ogres or
Power makes joyful and tireless First step
directed by Christiane Véricel production : Image Aiguë, Théâtre de la Renaissance - Oullins
Theatre in Music Creation in residency at Théâtre de la Renaissance, Oullins (France) from March 22 to April 1st 2010 For touring from July 2010 contact : Nicolas Bertrand – +33 4 78 27 74 81 / +33 6 35 37 60 86 nbertrand@image-aigue.org
The Ogres or Power makes joyful and tireless
Artistic direction Christiane Véricel Lights Michel Theuil Accessories and stage management Bruno Corona Performers Sandrine De Rosa Franck Kayap Frédéric Périgaud et 6 enfants comédiens Musician Estanislao Sanchez (bandoneon)
Puppets advisor Jean Sclavis Puppets crafting Compagnie Emilie Valantin Production Image Aiguë Compagnie Christiane Véricel Théâtre de la Renaissance – Oullins Image Aiguë is in convention with the french Ministry of Culture and Communication and the Région Rhône-Alpes
Duration : about 1h Audience : all audience (max 200 people) and young audience (from 7 years old) (max 150 people)
The Ogres or Power makes joyful and tireless
Christiane Véricel in her new creation will tell us about our childhood farrytale's monsters, keen on fresh flesh; and also blind, impatient, selfish, menacing ogres of our daily life. With professional performers and children actors, Véricel will explore myths and actuallity of the ogre. A humorous look at the insatiable, bulimics and those who lack everything. Stories to tell about the big conflicts and small wars, seeking a balance where everyone would find his place and what he needs. The shows come out from research sessions lead by Christiane Véricel with professional artists and children from diverse backgrounds, often foreigners, real artistic laboratories where differences are put into play to produce meaning with language and history of each. This gives magnificent theatrical travel books, both humorous and meaningful when children are perceived for what they are : not small adults, but evolving beings, sensitive, complex and generous, whatever their horizon is.
« My glutton neighbor had the terrible look of a man who is unable to physically see something other than what he wants to swallow - whether a portion of whipped cream or a country" Klaus Mann, The turning point
The Ogres or Power makes joyful and tireless
Creation on March 22nd 2010 at Théâtre de la Renaissance – Oullins, in the frame of Image Aiguë résidency in the Saulaie district. First step, creation at Théâtre de la Renaissance – Oullins Grand Lyon • monday 22 march, 14h30 • tuesday 23 march, 14h30 • thursday 25 march, 14h30 • friday 26 march, 19h • monday 29 march, 14h30 • tuesday 30 march, 14h30 • wednesday 31 march, 17h • thursday 1st april, 14h30
Tour conditions of Les Ogres (creation in Oullins) : • People on tour : 14 (3 actors, 1 musician, 6 children actors, 1 technician, 1 childrenchaperon, 1 director, 1 production manager) • Minimum size of the stage : 9m x 6m • Technical transportation : 20 m3 • Technical rider disponable on March 22nd 2010
Financial conditions on demand.
Contact : Nicolas Bertrand Image Aiguë – 2, place des Terreaux 69001 Lyon tél : +33 4 78 27 74 81 – +33 6 35 37 60 86 nbertrand@image-aigue.org
The Ogres or Power makes joyful and tireless
Apart from Les Ogres performances, the Company may propose: • a tour of small pieces, extracts of the show performed in non-theatrical venues before performances at the theater, • pedagogical actions with teachers on current topics (dietetics, power, hunger in the world, the relation between mythes and actuality) which can be theater workshops, conversations, etc... Les Ogres is an evolutive show which will be reinvented along Company's trips, during artistic research workshops and meetings in France, Europe and foreign countries. The first step of the show may be programed as-is, we also search for co-producers for new creation' steps about current ogre's figures.
About ogres and other insatiable people Interview with Christiane Véricel, by Manuel Piolat Soleymat What is the central idea of this creation ? This new creation develops and deepens a topic underlined, in some ways, in my former shows, namely that of ogres, insatiable people and bulimics… I think I have always worked on the confrontation between characters that either have enough to eat or not. I am pretty convinced that hunger is connected to all the big human conflicts and world crisis. In the same way, I have often worked on the topic of immigration and of people looking for some place to live in the world. My performances deals with topical issues deeply rooted in reality and based on concrete and simple things; they are like communicating vases, showing the empty and the full.
for the company not to show too simple or limited realities. For me, the real stake is to put a subtle light on things, to tell vivid histories showing their entire complexity. In this new creation, you also explore the idea of happiness. Is it, in your eyes, really intimately linked to the idea of voracity?
The first question that crosses your mind when you talk about voracity is often that of happiness. What are the ogres looking for? Do they only find happiness in absorbing or consuming? As you well know, we are mortal. So, in that case, I really wonder: what is the meaning of this constant need to accumulate as much as possible, always longing for more and more? What these frenzied “hamster-like” people can do with their booty. How far they really enjoy the Do you think that The Ogres is the natural enormous wealth they have accumulated, continuation of Ici Là-bas, your last what seems to me purely impossible, in a life creation? time, to do so? For this creation, I wished to do something, Absolutely. Each new creation is, in a way, the continuation of the previous one. Even if I’ve never done before: to ask children what happiness means to them. In fact, I got the you can’t always see, at first sight, all the threads connecting my different creations to chance to exchange letters with a class of one another, they do exist, in a more or less Czech pupils. The majority mentioned liberty, space, family and “freedom to do underlying way. what they felt like doing”. Of course, others brought up wealth but just a few of them. In your performances, you try not to fall There, I must admit one thing: I was into manichaeism or didactics. Here, how pleased to see that for the majority of them, did you handle the character of the ogre? happiness didn’t mean to own a swimming We have tried to show all kinds of ogres: pool. good ones, bad ones, nice ones, violent or funny ogres… It’s true that the current Except for happiness, what are the other events of the past years have put a very crude topics you have explored in The Ogres? light on all the greedy drifting of some firm leaders. But, in fact, this voracious and rigid Actually, all the big ideas usually inherent to my performances. Symbolically expressed, way of looking at life has always existed. problems, linked to food and territory, come In our performances, it’s always important from the necessity of surviving. It’s the idea
of the empty and the full, of privation and abundance, space and confinement and, last but not least, of accumulating. In that sense, the picture of boats loaded with boat-people is, in my point of view, really striking. I feel the same about the peasants in Amazonian or in the north-east of Brazil who have been roughly expelled out of their own territories or even about agriultural lands in Madagascar rented by corean industrial consortiums… I try, as I said previously, to have various approaches: I think of all the possible movements, all the variants creating the links between the empty and the full. And, of course, I love adding a spell of humour and derision to these stories. It’s my way to accentuate the pathetic of some attitudes and contrasts, without neglecting altogether the earnest and dramatic character of some of the stories.
into as one goes along, according to the situations created with the comedians. For the time being, I don’t want to focus my work on tale or myth. So I led up the comedians to work around stories that directly concern today’s world. Nevertheless, when you start a research with the ogre as a topic, it’s difficult to totally ignore these two fields of references, myth and reality. Thus, as the working sessions went on, and when I thought it was right to do so, I nourished what appeared on stage with visions and symbols related to the tale. In your creations you rest as much on your imaginary as that of the comedians involved…
Yes, indeed. All our imaginary worlds oppose themselves and become richer. This brings our creations to reflect the identity and wishes of each of us. Each member of the group is in turn performer and spectator In this new show, what his the space left to of the performance, which leads to tale and myth? extremely rich exchanges based on the idea Many years ago, I worked a lot on the of pleasure. As for me, pleasure and theatre universe of fairy tales and myth. Of course, are intimately linked: if there is no pleasure, when I started creating “The Ogres”, all the there is no theatre. And as a stage director, things I had already worked on came back to it’s my role to make sure that this pleasure me. For the time being, I am more will be shared by the audience, without ever concerned and interested by the events calling into question our artistic demand. I linked to today’s actuality. However, when want to target a very large audience, like our you create performances without a fixed text, performances usually do: a mixed audience as I do, you need to have inside you a rich from a social, cultural and generation point and heterogeneous material where you draw of view.
The Ogres or Power makes joyful and tireless
photos : Research workshops, Oullins, december 2009
Images and more information :
http://image-aigue.org/en/professional-space
Contact Nicolas Bertrand Image Aiguë – 2, place des Terreaux 69001 Lyon tél : 04 78 27 74 81 – 06 35 37 60 86 nbertrand@image-aigue.org
illustration : Łukasz Rayski (Image Aiguë – january 2010)