The night of the moles (Welcome to Caveland!)
Giant moles
The new production by the French director Philippe Quesne could be a sequel to his 2013 fable Swamp Club, which was about a group of people who saw the place where they lived and worked threatened by a large-scale construction project. In Welcome to Caveland! this place is underground, like a prehistoric cave, an atomic shelter or Plato’s cave.
Fantasy animals, giant moles and figures from the underworld populate this allegorical world. The cave dwellers travel from city to city like a circus to present their tale in theatres and at festivals. In this ‘ecosophical’ theatre, the human perspective is weighed up against the animal, the mineral and the non-organic. Philosophical myths and science-fiction-like tales and utopias are woven into one another.
• In his work, Philippe Quesne starts out with rituals from daily life and transforms them into little ceremonies, which are sometimes melancholy and sometimes funny. Quesnes’ work is shown all around the world, from Avignon to New York and Hong Kong. Previous work of his that we have presented includes L'Effet de Serge, La Mélancolie des Dragons, Big Bang, Swamp Club, and last season, Next Day, a play performed by children.
#toughtheatre #tableauvivant #matinee #international
concept, direction & scenography Philippe Quesne | actors Yvan Clédat, Jean-Charles Dumay, Léo Gobin, Erwan Ha Kyoon Larcher, Sébastien Jacobs, Thomas Suire, Gaëtan Vourc’h | costumes Corine Petitpierre | production Nanterre-Amandiers centre dramatique national | collaborations dramaturgiques Lancelot Hamelin, Ismael Jude, Smaranda Olcese | création musicale en cours | assistante scénographie Elodie Dauguet | equipe technique de tournée Marc Chevillon (régie général), Thomas Laigle (régie lumière), Joachim Fosset (régie plateau) | construction du décor Ateliers de Nanterre-Amandiers : Philippe Binard, Jérôme Chrétien, Jean-Pierre Druelle, Marie Maresca | production Nanterre-Amandiers – centre dramatique national | avec le soutien de la Fondation d’entreprise Hermès dans le cadre de son programme « New Settings » | coproductions Steirischer herbst (Autriche), Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Belgique), Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne (Suisse), La Filature – Scène nationale, Mulhouse, Künstlerhaus Mousonturm (Allemagne), Théâtre National de Bordeaux Aquitaine, Kaaïtheater (Belgique), Centre d’art Le Parvis à Tarbes, NXTSTP avec le soutien du Programme Culture de l’Union Européenne | avec la participation du Groupe de recherche Behavioral Objects - coordination Samuel Bianchini, de l'Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Architecture de Paris – Malaquais AAP (Art, Architecture, Politique) Atelier Jordi Colomer | création Mai 2016 au Kaaitheater (Bruxelles) dans le cadre du Kunstenfestivaldesarts
