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nouveau théâtre de MontreuilFériel Bakouri directrice adjointe+33 (0)1 48 70 48 92feriel.bakouri@nouveau-theatre-montreuil.com

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CrÉation septemBre 2012

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our love of series and the dream of an addiCtive and fraternal theater

the story: a drama in the City

interview with mathieu Bauerstage director

interview with sophie Coquart-morel script-writer

interview with sylvie maurer sociologist and writer

hosting the series: a form suited to your City

Biography of mathieu Bauer

Biographies of the artistiC team

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Conception and stage direction Mathieu Bauer

Text sophie Maurer

Script sylvie coquart-Morel

Dramaturgy – outside look Marie-José Malis

Musical composition sylvain cartigny

Set and light Jean-Marc skatchko

Costumes nathalie raoul

Video stéphane lavoix

Sound dominique Bataille

Stage direction assistant anne soisson

With Joris avodo, pierre Baux, Michel cassagne, christine gagnieux, Matthias girbig, lou Martin-Fernet

and musicians sylvain cartigny and stan Valette

and a Choir of citizens composed of 10 non-professional musicians and 12 non-professional actors, alternately.

A production of Nouveau Théâtre de Montreuil, a national theatrical center.

Coproduction in progress

With the support of Ecole Supérieure d’Art Dramatique in Montpellier and Région Ile-de-France, on account of artistic permanence, and SACD.

Performance schedule in Montreuil

episodes 1 to 4: ‘trapped’ from september 24 to october 14, 2012

episodes 5 and 6: ‘suspended’ from december 3 to 20, 2012

episodes 7 and 8: ‘rebuilding’ from May 14 to June 8, 2013

a rift [une faille]season 1: handle with Care

tour contacts

nouveau théâtre de MontreuilFériel Bakouri, codirectorT 00 33 (0)1 48 70 48 92production@nouveau-theatre-montreuil.com

Available for touring in the 2013/2014 season (see page 10).

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Because series providea popular space for meditating on our times, because they encourage brotherhood and are so appealing to us, because they enable all kinds of identifications and host all kinds of truth — sometimes hard to hear —, because they found a way of speaking to us about the world in times of emergency, in an immediate yet respectful way, we are fascinated by them.

what we are offering is a series for the theater. we want to bring the power of great american television series to the theater — their ability to scrutinize our world, to account for the complexity of modern life with the poignant affects of our time. their melancholy, their courage, their humor and lucid awareness, the important issues they raise.

we dream of an addictive theater, which would be set in the city and beat to its rhythm — a new popular ritual for the public space that theater is: the episodes will tell the people about their city, the struggles fought and the important questions faced there.

episodes, then, in a theater, that the audience would come and watch with the pleasure of meeting together, the humor of quaint forms, the fondness for truthful places where we are spoken to the way we like to be.

it is an invention, an unheard-of object, launched in the city so that inhabitants may gather around it and reflect on their own life — also so that they may rediscover the ritual of a evening at the theater. it stresses the theater’s ability to speak about life, our life, to take us by the hand and tell us a story.

to build this adventure, we have not only gathered an artistic team composed of writers, actors, musicians and technicians, but also a ‘choir of citizens’, composed of citizens of Montreuil, lovers of theater and music.

our love of series and the dream of an addiCtive and fraternal theater

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this is the drama: a building has just collapsed, destroying an adjacent retirement home. there are dead, wounded, but also survivors. they have not all been found. Five of them are still trapped under the rubble. they are cut off from the outside world. they have to learn how to live together, as they are waiting to be rescued. this situation fosters tensions. it also raises questions about the world we live in: how could such an accident occur? who is to blame ?

above them, government officials pressured by public opinion try to respond to the event. the population gets involved, raises issues, wants to understand…

the first episodes unravel in the hours immediately following the collapse of the retirement home. panic strikes at the top (the population, emergency services and officials) and at the bottom, in the ruins (five survivors trapped in the same space).

on the surface, as first aid is organized, all the usual characters dealing with disasters appear on the scene: the journalists, eager to collect poignant stories from survivors and comments from shocked passers: by political officials (like Hugo, the Mayor’s chief of staff, facing his first catastrophe), trying to make up a discourse that makes sense of chaos; the crowd of onlookers, some sympathetic and worried, others just curious and voyeuristic, and the spread of rumors about the causes of the accident…

the story: a drama in the City

Five survivors can be seen in the ruins, trapped in the same space, with no possible way of communicating with the surface: Jacques, nabil, nathalie, octave and pascale — two women and three men. some of them already know each other, because of the retirement home: Jacques lived there, nabil conducted all kinds of traffics of goods the residents are no longer allowed to have; octave visited his father there regularly; and pascale investigated the place, as a young policewoman sent out to question the residents about a series of recent thefts. we will follow these characters throughout the season.

so this is the aim of the series ! to hold us spellbound, to keep us in suspense, to make us breathe according to the rhythm of the series’ twists and revelation, and gather our spirits to wander through the city’s territory, which unravels as the investigation progresses.

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interview with mathieu Bauer stage director by Marie-José Malis

How did the idea of a series for the theater come about? what do series bring to the theater?Like many people, I am a series fanatic. To me, shows like The Wire, Six Feat Under or The Sopranos, to take only a few examples, have the ability to captivate the audience and to talk about the world we live in, at the same time. They tell a gripping story and they shed an acute light on our time and society, and in that sense, they have a political dimension. What I like about series is their democratic urge, which brings us back to Alexandre Dumas or Charles Dickens. Series magnetize us because the story is never over, we’re always waiting for a new twist. But above all, what is most exciting about series is the idea of confronting the present: dealing with hot topics, which concern us all. Series are flexible enough to respond to current events, which is also one function of theater.There’s also the desire to explore something new, to invite the public to watch a new form. It forces me to be inventive.Finally, I like to work with a team, to share the stakes of inventing that new form, but also the melodramatic, passionate and humorous force entailed in the stories series tell.

How are you going to stage the series in the theater? Theater doesn’t offer the same possibilities for intensity as screenwriting, which entails changes in frames, cutaways, alternating editing… However, I’ve tried to use certain cinematographic effects, as a kind of tongue-in-cheek reference to film: alternating editing, close ups, narrative fragmentation and a play on the different temporalities of a narrative…The scenography displays a space divided in two different time-spaces: below are the people who have been trapped by the collapse and who try to survive as best as they can, and above ground are the inhabitants and city officials, who are struggling with the emotional and political rippling effects of the disaster: the emergency services, the fire brigade, officials and their administrations, journalists there to cover the event, the crowd…Secondly, we wanted the scenography to be mobile, to enable a range of different distances with the audience — from close up effects to larger frames. It also provides a range of different perspectives on the scene. It is one possible way of evoking cinematographic language in the theater.

Finally, we wanted the dialogue to be dynamised by the editing between the sequences: working on rhythms, quickness, dynamism, finding the right tone within a vivid dialogue. As in all the series of which I am an aficionado, I wanted to include multiple discourses. Different voices are heard, and different types of lingoes, from the colloquial to the expert: each character has his/her own color and way of speaking — the voice of specialists, like urban planners and architects, etc., and the voice of the choir (made of non-professional people), which is poetic and, as is often the case with me, accompanied with music.Then, the video work enables us to multiply the temporalities and convey a complex image of the city. I see the stage as a locus for very contrasted emotional, mental, visual and aural emotions. The burlesque, provocation, seriousness, anger and melancholy all form a great poem of the city. As the story unfolds, something deepens or thickens. Situations intensify because we learn more about the protagonists, but also because the relationships between them evolve. Our meditation on the present also deepens, resonating with the scenes.

why are you interested in the issues of the city and housing? The housing issue is the issue of social justice. The collapse of the building is the symptom of several disruptions and problems linked to urban politics. We have to talk about people’s lives. In our story, we deal with the struggles young people face today to build their life in a world where it’s hard to find a job and a place to live. Because of that, their autonomy is endangered. But we also tackle the question of the place the elderly have. There’s also the issue of illegal workers, and ghettos. I think it is urgent to talk about our problems. But I also think it is urgent to do people justice: they carry ideas and initiatives forth. We want to map out their aspirations and their efforts.

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interview with sylvie Coquart-morel script writer by Marie-José Malis

How did you adapt the form of a television series to the stage?The point is to play with the codes of the series to create a show that will tell a long, tensed, gripping story, in which characters evolve through time, responding to events. For instance, it means introducing elements which intensify, slow down or suspend the action. What we call ‘cliffhangers’ create a desire for the story to go on at the end of each episode, building expectations. The point of the series as a form is that it enables us to play with a kind of temporality that is not that of a single stage in a single time. The narrative unfolds on several levels, and we move from one group of characters to another, and to one space to another. We also move from one discourse to another. In that sense, we create an intense image of life.The most obvious aspect of a series as a formis the fact that it unfolds as a sequence of episodes. A series stops and starts again later. It deals with the idea of starting again. Now, how did you deal with that aspect in the show’s script? Again, you go back to the television series. There will be a first season, involving eight 26-minute episodes. A first performance will include four episodes in a row, in the same evening. Then, as the theatrical season progresses, the series will return twice with two episodes performed each time. These three evenings happen a few weeks apart. Moving from one episode to the next has another big advantage: it enables us to play with closure. You can for instance imagine that five hours have gone by between one episode and the next. And because of the interruption, there is suspense, frustration, the joyful phenomenon of addiction, the urge to meet the protagonists again, to know how it’s all going to end…

You worked for television. what is the biggest difference with the theater? The great thing about theater is that, apart from the way characters come to life, it enables me to play on discourses — something which is much harder to do on television. For instance, we have the possibility of including various discourses on urban reality: that of an architect, of an urban planner, of a city historian, but also of a fireman, a mayor, associations, etc. All those discourses allow us to better understand what goes on when a city population changes, when life becomes harder, when the city struggles with issues like gentrification. Besides, theater has an imaginative, lyrical thrust and a freedom of styles, so that you don’t only

hear a discourse on facts, but also a discourse on possibilities. How should things be? Concretely, which way should we go?

How does this story become universal?We have an exemplary situation: each character trapped or involved in the situation emblematizes a social position in the city, and they have to live together ! We stage different social types existing today and raise the question of their living together. For instance, one teenager represents a certain cultural diversity, whereas an old libertarian stands for the ideals and ways of living of the 1970s. They are opposed in everything. This stages a generational conflict directly, in front of the spectator. All the relationships between the five characters are representative of problems of our social cohabitation. Moreover, the story takes the form of an investigation. What happened? Why has the building collapsed? A close investigation is conducted on the question of housing. How do we build today? Who gets to decide and on what ? We move up the chain of accountability: profit and money saving led to the disaster. The enclosed situation in the lower level contrasts with the reality of the upper level: the reality of authorities. The series deals with the difficulty authorities have in acting today: what important questions are they facing ? How are they to handle so many complexities and conflicting interests?Finally, the series is universal because Montreuil, the city on which it is based, is a prism through which all French modern cities can be thought. It echoes their most urgent changes and problems: the dramatic situation of housing in the city, the question of urban mutations with gentrification, poorer communities being pushed away, tensions between communities, the space dedicated to the elderly in our urban life with the multiplication of retirement homes…The universality and the capacity for identification are conveyed by the characters, but also by the choir. The choir conveys the aspirations of the people, it pays tribute to their efforts in finding solutions which promote solidarity, but also in providing political alternatives.

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the city has always fostered fantasies, as a locus of corruption, loneliness, but also as the site of modern life, possibilities, political struggles, etc. How do you work with these stereotypes?There are indeed a lot of stereotypes about the city. What is interesting when you build a fiction on this theme is not necessarily to go against the stereotypes, but to make do with them, because they are part of what is being said about the city. You mustn’t refrain from siting yourself vis-a-vis these stereotypes and to play with them to show how they distort and simplify reality. Series are a popular form, and we start from what people imagine so as to complexify their vision, to get a fairer idea of what a city is today, of the actual surprises they entail, of the great existential questions they raise.

How did your work as a sociologist influence this series project?In this project, I draw from ground investigations to build a fiction. It is primarily a qualitative research: I don’t work on statistics, but rather from testimonies. I collect life stories. As a sociologist, I’m used to that kind of investigation. I have worked, among other themes, on populations from Mali. I have also actively participated in the ‘Right to housing’ movement. Montreuil is teeming with stories, it is part of greater historical movements: autonomous life forms, residences for migrants, diverse populations and, today, gentrification…

Housing is the key theme in this series. and Montreuil particularly faces this issue… How did you approach it?Housing is a particularly hot topic, politically speaking, because it touches on the great balance of powers. It is also a very down-to-earth question that concerns us all. ‘Tell me we where you live, I’ll tell you who you are.’ This question is more complex than it seems at first glance. In many cases, people don’t choose where they live. They live where they can. In the stories I collected in my investigations, personal histories reflect collective phenomena: the collapse of factory work and worker culture, for instance. There is also the question of gentrification, you may wonder if it is spontaneous or if politics influence it. If you take the example of Montreuil, there is also the history of self-managed properties, which developed in the 1980s. They represented a form of utopia, which shaped the city in a sense. Montreuil is a working-class city where different communities coexist, like Malian people, sedentary Roms… I collect investigation data and I try to place it at the heart of the story we are telling, through the characters, their pasts and their conflicts.

Montreuil is a city with a strong and unique history. does this series deal with phenomena which concern everybody, and not just Montreuil?This city is a bit like a mosaics. It’s all the more interesting asit’s not specific to Montreuil, on the contrary, it reflects trends that you find everywhere. It’s interesting to see, for instance, that things are not fixed, they keep evolving. For instance, through schools or sport — collective practices — communities, which were originally apart, tend to draw closer with the following generation. Besides, gentrification and the place of poorer communities in the city is a completely general issue. We also talk about the place of the elderly in our modern life, with the generalization of retirement homes. Not to mention issues of rent and property costs. Housing has become a key issue in people’s life.

You start from a dramatic event: the collapse of a building (and indeed, not so long ago, a building actually collapsed in Montreuil...) does your series have a political intent?We try to account for actual phenomena. But they are complex. We don’t want to make any simplistic statements, but to shed light on them. The story of the building’s collapse may imply several possible causes. We’ll start by looking for the causes and the people responsible for them. Who is to blame ? No one person is to blame. It’s a sociological investigation. A variety of factors account for the accident: the pressures on promoters who build the buildings at a given price per square meter; the short deadlines that are imposed and that force them to build too quickly. The market is under pressure. There is a great need for housing. It is a very lucrative industry with major financial interests — with, eventually, problems linked to bribery and various forms of corruption. So the overriding question is: to what extent does political power control what is being done when housing is built? This includes tenders, but also the problem of subcontractors, and subcontractors of subcontractors… What is the chain of responsibility leading to such problems?

interview with sophie maurer sociologist and writer by Marie-José Malis

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as is often the case in television series, notably american series, the point is to deal with human relationships above all… Yes, we raise the issue of heterogeneity. How do we handle the issue of ‘togetherness‘? In this case, how can different populations, from different backgrounds, live together ? We don’t want to have too static a vision. We’re not dealing with great, homogeneous blocks. In France, there’s this ambitious conception of relations between communities, because we consider that something goes beyond cultural and social affiliations, and that is citizenship: we are all citizens above all. We want to highlight that dimension in the show. We want to stand up for the collective, asserting a position that is neither desperate nor cynical. In the series, the crowd, that is the inhabitants of the city, also plays a role. Some people are trapped in the ruins, some are dead, some are former residents of the retirement home who don’t know where they’re going to live. A crowd expresses general opinion. It is like a choir of citizens. It has to be lucid and indignant — not just a vocal indignation but a productive one, leading on to practices.

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hosting the series: a form suited to your City

The series tells a story of our modern cities, which involves permanence, but also specificities. Housing, urban mutations, population diversity and “togetherness” are issues that all cities face. The atmosphere of certain neighborhoods, the specific histories of certain populations, the landmarks of a city are specific characteristics which form the particular charm of places. This is why we offer to adapt the series to the cities which will host it: adapting the text, when it refers to specific places, adapting the screened images, by shooting footage in the neighborhoods of the host city in advance, and working prior to the performance with the citizens, in the fields of theater, music and dance, so that they may form a ‘choir of citizens’ on stage. Hence, the project reflects the hybrid theater that Mathieu Bauer offers.

the Choir of Citizens: In Mathieu Bauer’s series, the city’s population is represented by 22 non-professional people (among which half approximately are musicians, half are actors, and all live in the city), who, like the choir in ancient Greek tragedies, speak, sing and dance to voice the concerns of the inhabitants… which, incidentally, they are.Recruited beforehand, thanks to our partners from city services, local associations, conservatories and music bands… These non-professional people will train in theater and music under the supervision of Mathieu Bauer and Sylvain Cartigny. They will be asked to invent their own mottos, statements and choreographies to form a militant and solidary crowd, working on the text with Mathieu Bauer, using the technique of sprechgesang, a spoken song, accompanied by musicians performing live. (A recording will be provided before rehearsals, so that participants can familiarize themselves with the texts’ tone and with the tunes.) The texts, conceived as simple poetic structures, are open to slight rewriting with the citizens, depending on their own appropriations and inventiveness. This theatrical work goes together with a choreography involving sequences of entrances and exists, group compositions and gesture sequences.With non-professional musicians, the musical work will focus on Sylvain Cartigny’s original compositions. It’s a melodic, popular and rock-inspiredwork, echoing such works as John Adams’s, Tom Waits’s and Ennio Morricone’s. (There again, scores and recordings will be available prior to rehearsals).

The ensemble creates a moving image of the population: a population that is aware, willing, solidary, who is the true inspiring force and addressee of the series. The role of non-professional people is to enrich the artistic project with their testimonies and their perspectives on the city. Above all, they have an irreplaceable presence on stage: spontaneity, authenticity, giving the series a truthful dimension.We suggest performing A Rift in your venue by adapting it to the identity of your city, in the format of you choice: a complete performance in one evening, 8 episodes performed over 2 evenings, or 2 episodes spread over 4 evenings: any combination is possible!

This adaptation requires approximately one week of prior work, which includes:— work to build the Choir of citizens, with non-professional actors and musicians;— shooting in the city’s locations to rewrite the screened images of the series;— adapting the text when it mentions specific locations (street names, shops, landmarks)

series available for touring in the 2013/2014 season.

tour contact

nouveau théâtre de MontreuilFériel Bakouri, Codirector00 33 (0)1 48 70 48 92production@nouveau-theatre-montreuil.com

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Mathieu Bauer’s main concern is to create works whose topics resonate with the stakes of our times. Guided by the notion of a theater closely linked to music, cinema and literature, where montage is conceived as a way to put down barriers between artistic forms, Mathieu Bauer works from very diverse materials: newspaper articles, essays, novels, films, operas, and of course theater plays. He composes new scores which combine rhythm, text, singing and image. Here lies the specificity of his work and the basic logic of his theatrical practice.

Trained as a musician, he founded Compagnie Sentimental Bourreau with other artists, such as actress Judith Henry, musician Sylvain Cartigny and actor Martin Selze, who all wanted to speak of our world and our time. This collective adventure resulted in several pieces which still contribute to the company’s fame, such as Les Carabiniers, based on scripts by Jean-Luc Godard, Rossellini and Jean Gruau (1989); Strip et Boniments, after testimonies by Suzanne Meiselas (1990); La Grande Charge Hystérique after Invention de l’hystérie by G. Didi Huberman (1991); Va-t’en chercher le bonheur et ne reviens pas les mains vides after Nathanael West, Brecht and Gagarine (1995); Satan conduit le bal after Panizza, Pessoa and J.D. Vincent (1997) and Tout ce qui vit s’oppose à quelque choseafter Kant, Lucretius and G. Didi Huberman (1998-1999).

Since 1999, the company has opened to new collaborators: Marc Berman, Georgia Stahl, Kate Strong, Matthias Girbig: Les Chasses du comte Zaroff after Masse et Puissance by Elias Canetti and the script of the film Les Chasses du Conte Zaroff (2001); Drei Time Ajax, after a poem by Heiner Müller (2003); L’Exercice a été profitable Monsieur after Serge Daney (2003) ; Rien ne va plus after Stefan Zweig and Georges Bataille (2005); Top Dogs by Urs Widmer (2006); Alta Villaby Lancelot Hamelin (2007); Tendre jeudi after John Steinbeck (2007), Tristan et… by Lancelot Hamelin, a free adaptation based on Richard Wagner’s libretto (2009).

Two theaters in the greater Paris area have played a major role in this career: MC 93 in Bobigny, headed by Ariel Goldenberg and later by Patrick Sommier, and Nouveau Théâtre de Montreuil, headed by Gilberte Tsaï, which co-produced and hosted three of his productions.

Sentimental Bourreau has been invited to events of international scale, such as Festival d’Avignon, Arts Festival in Castilla y Leon (Salamanca), Culturgest festival in Lisbon, Rhurspielefestival, VIA festial in Maubeuge, Walls & Bridges Festival in New York.An associate artist at Centre Dramatique National in Orléans, and an artist in residence at Comédie de Béthune, Mathieu Bauer has maintained a steady collaboration with Théâtre de la Bastille in Paris, Théâtre National de Bretagne, Subsistances in Lyon, Maison de la Culture in Amiens, Centre Dramatique Dijon-Bourgogne, Théâtre Ouvert…

At the same time, Mathieu Bauer has continued working as an independent musician and composer, forming ties with Marstall Theater in Munich and Schauspiele in Frankfurt. He also regularly collaborates with the Frenchnational radio France Culture.

Mathieu Bauer was appointed Head of Nouveau Théâtre de Montreuil on July 1st 2011, by the French Ministry of Culture, with a multidisciplinary project.Reflecting his vision of a theater bringing down the barriers between theater, music, image and cinema, his programming values hybrid forms and opens up to dance, circus arts and concerts. Moreover, he has offered to create a theatrical series, which he will direct during the first season but which will eventually be entrusted with other stage directors/artists.

More information on Mathieu Bauer’s project: www.nouveau-theatre-montreuil.com

Biography of mathieu Bauer stage director, musican and Head of nouveau théâtre de Montreuil

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Biographies of the artistiC team

writing and dramaturgy sophie Maurer — sociologist, writerSophie Maurer received a Master’s degree in Political Science from Institut d’Etudes Politiques in Paris. From 2001 to 2003, she was a teaching assistant at the Political Science department of the Sorbonne University in Paris. In 2003 and 2004, she was a Fullbright Visiting Scholar at the Center for European Studies of New York University, and in the Political Science department of Columbia University (United-States). She is completing a PhD in Political Science, under the supervision of Nonna Mayer, entitled: “A Contribution to a Sociology of Political Learnings. An ethnographic investigation with children of West-African migrants in France”. She currently teaches Political Science and social sciences methods at INALCO, and is responsible for a methodology course on ‘Behaviours, attitudes and political powers in France and Europe’ at Sciences Po. Asthmes, published in 2001 (Seuil), is her first novel.

sylvie coquart-Morel — script-writerA screenwriter in film and television, Sylvie Coquart-Morel started writing in 1995 when she collaborated to the script of a soap opera, and then wrote episodes for series of various genres — crime, fantastic, family or children-oriented, such as Les Ouchas, Le Jap (7 episodes), Nestor Burma (4 episodes), Gowat et Flap, Crim’ (7 episodes), Section de recherche (2 episodes), Fais pas ci Fais pas ça.She was the literary director of the soap opera Cap des Pins, managing a team of 14 writers, and created the series Aix mélodie, Ondes de choc, Saintex nos années pension, Des soucis et des hommes.In cinema, she participated to the script of Lisa des abords and Le Combat avec l’ange directed by Michel Ferry.

Marie-José Malis — dramaturgeMarie-José Malis, stage director, former student of the Ecole Normale Supérieure, teaches theater at Théâtre la Vignette and at Montpellier University. She founded company La Llevantina in 1994. Her recent productions include Le Prince de Hombourgby Heinrich von Kleist (2009), On ne sait comment by Luigi Pirandello (2011) and Le Plaisir d’être honnête by Luigi Pirandello, first producedat Comédie de Genève last season. On ne sait commentby Luigi Pirandello will rerun in February 2013 at Théâtre Paris-Villette, where Marie-José Malis organises open discussions on theatrical issues. In 2013, she will first produce an adaptation of Rapport Langhoff at Comédie de Genève, then, in the 2013-2014season, will present an adaptation of Hölderlin’s novel Hyperion, a piece coproduced with Nouveau Théâtre de Montreuil. Company La Llevantina has been in residence at the Forum, Théâtre la Vignette in Montpellier and at Comédie de Genève, etc.Marie-José Malis was a laureate of the off-site Villa Medici in New York and Los Angeles.

musiCal Compositionsylvain cartigny — composer and musicianSylvain Cartigny, a composer and musician, co-founded Compagnie Sentimental Bourreau with Mathieu Bauer. He has participated in all the company’s productions: Les Carabiniers, Strip et Boniments, La Grande Charge Hystérique, Va-t’en chercher le bonheur et ne reviens pas les mains vides, Satan conduit le bal, Tout ce qui vit s’oppose à quelque chose, Les Chasses du comte Zaroff, Drei Time,L’Exercice a été profitable Monsieur, Rien ne va plus, Top Dogs, Alta Villa, Tendre jeudi, Tristan et...As a musician, Sylvain Cartigny has brought his art to the stage in productions by Robert Cantarella, Christophe Huysmans, Michel Deutsch, André Wilms and Wanda Golonka. In cinema, he has collaborated with Charles Castella, Stéphane Guisti, Charles Berling, Stéphane Gatti. He is also part of the rock band France Cartigny. Moreover, he has worked as an actor with stage director Philippe Faucon.In 2011, Sylvain Cartigny adapted music from the punk-rock repertoire in the production of Please Kill Me, staged by Mathieu Bauer, which opened at Subsistances in Lyon and at Théâtre de la Bastille in Paris, and which was recently performed at Nouveau Théâtre de Montreuil.

Sylvain Cartigny composed the score for A Rift, Season 1. He closely contributes to the artistic project of Nouveau Théâtre de Montreuil.

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aCtors and musiCianspierre Baux – actorPierre Baux started his career by working with stage directors like Jean Danet, Jacques Mauclair and Pierre Meyrand. Since then, he has worked with Jacques Nichet, in Faut pas payer by Dario Fo, and Measure for measure by W. Shakespeare, with the company Irakli in Zig Bang Parade by G. Aperghis, La tentative orale by F. Ponge, with Célie Pauthe in Long voyage du jour à la nuit by E. O’Neil, Quartett by H. Müller and L’ignorant et le Fou by T. Bernhard, Gilles Zaepfell and L’Atelier du Plateau, Voyage à vélo by M. Malgrange, Les Contes de Grimm, Ecrits rocks together with cello player Vincent Courtois, with Jeanne Champagne in L’enfant de J.Vallès, Eric Vigner in Brancusi contre Etats-Unis, Slimane Benaïssa in L’Avenir oublié, Frédéric Fisbach in Tokyo Notes by O. Hirata, Jacques Rebotier and François Verret in Memento, Arthur Nauzyciel in Ordet by K. Munk, Antoine Caubet in Partage de midi by Paul Claudel, with violin player Dominique Pifarély in Anabasis and Après la révolution by C. Pennequin in an improvised duo. Aregular collaborator to Ludovic Lagarde and an associate actor of the Comédie de Reims, he has acted in most of his productions: Le petit monde by G.Courteline, Sœurs et frères by O.Cadiot, Platonov andIvanov by A.Tchekhov, Le cercle de craie caucasien by B.Brecht, Oui dit le très jeune homme by G.Stein, Richard III by P.Verhelst, Un nid pour quoi faire by O.Cadiot.His acting career has led him to work in cinema and television (directed by Jean-Marc Moutout, Philippe Garrel, Cédric Kahn, Philippe Faucon, Siegrid Alnoy, Pierre Jolivet, Bénédicte Brunet.) Comment une figue de paroles et pourquoi is his first production as a stage director. Since then, he has also created a work based on texts by J.Rebotier, Rosalie au carré (Villa Gillet), and has staged Le passage des heures by Fernando Pessoa at Subsistances in Lyon.

Michel cassagne — actorMichel Cassagne was trained at Maurice Sarrazin’s and Simone Turck’s Grenier in Toulouse. He has worked as an actorin François Simon’s and Philippe Mentha’s Théâtre de Carouge-Genève,and, in Switerland again,has performed at Comédie de Genève, at Nouveau Théâtre de Poche, at Théâtre du Grütli, at Théâtre des Amis and in Lausanne, at Théâtre Kleber Meleau, at Théâtre de Vidy.Michel Cassagne has also acted under the direction of Richard Vachoux, Charles Apothéloz, Claude Stratz, Gérard Carrat, François Rochaix, Hervé Loichemol, Nelly Borgeaud, Denis Maillefer, Gianni Schneider, Isabelle Pousseur (Théâtre Ocean Nord and Théâtre National de Belgique, Brussels), Manfred Karge and Mathias Langhof (Comédie de Genève, TNP and Festival d’Avignon), Jean-Yves Ruff.In cinema, he has played in Les Arpenteursby Michel Soutter, Sauve qui peut la vieby Jean-Luc Godard, La vie de Mario Ricciby Claude Goretta, La vie et rien d’autreby Bertrand Tavernier, Trois huit by Philippe Le Guay, Lemmingby Dominik Moll. He has also played in TV films directed by Maurice Failevic (France 2), such as Le cheval vapeur, l’Héritage, Capitaine Cyrano, La Laïque.christine gagnieux — actress

Christine Gagnieux trained in theatrical arts with Jean-Louis Martin Barbaz, and later with Antoine Vitez and Pierre Debauche at the Paris Conservatory.She later performed under the direction of Pierre Romans, Daniel Mesguisch, Jean-Louis Thamin, Anne Delbée, Patrice Chéreau, and collaborated again with Antoine Vitez for several productions.She took part in several artistic adventures with Michel Dubois, Bernard Sobel, Dominique Muller, Andjew Wajda, Jacques Echantillon, Jorge Lavelli, Alain Françon,Jacques Lassalle, Brigitte Foray, Deborah Warner and has had a close artistic collaborationwith Jean-Louis Martinelli, for many years.More recently, she has worked with stage directors Gloria Paris, Jacques Osinski, Jean-Marie Besset, Jean-Louis Thamin, Alain Germain, Bernard Sobel, Daniel Pâris, Marion Bierry, Patrice Kerbrat, Fabio Alessandrini, Laurent Pelly, Laurence Andréini, Christophe Perton,Frédéric Maragnani…Apart from her acting career, Christine Gagnieux has translated a great number of contemporary Spanish and Latin-American playwrights, as well as documentary films for Arte. She also dedicates time to teaching acting in major drama schools: Ecole de la Comédie in Saint-Etienne, Ecole du Théâtre National in Strasbourg, Conservatoire du IXe Arrondissement in Paris, Ecole Supérieure d’Art Dramatique in Paris, Conservatoire Supérieur de Région in Montpellier and, in Spanish, at L’Atelier at the Festival de Bogotà (Colombia) and L’Atelier in Guatémala.

Matthias girbig –actorMatthias Girbig is a member of Compagnie T.O.C. (Théâtre Obsessionnel Compulsif): Le Théâtre MERZ by Kurt Schwitters (2007-2008), Turandot by Bertolt Brecht (2007-2009), Robert Guiscard by Heinrich Von Kleist (2005-2006), Electrolution Révonique 23 (ER23) a production centering on W. S. Burroughs (2003-2005), Entrée Libre by R. Vitrac (2002)… He has also acted in L’exception et la règle by Bertolt Brecht (2000-2001), staged by Bernard Sobel (2004-2005) and in L’Annonce faîte à Marie by P.Claudel, staged by Frédéric Fisbach (2002).In 2009, Matthias Girbig first worked as an actor under the direction of Mathieu Bauer, in Tristan et … He also played in Please In television, he played the Duke of Anjou inElizabeth: the Virgin Queen, a 4-episode TV film, directed by Coky Giedroyc and produced by the BBC (2005), and played in the seriesQ.Idirected by Olivier Deplas (2011). He wrote and directed films for the web and for television in various collaborative works: Les Galinacés(2006-2010), Jaipasdepage.comand Le 65 (since 2012). Matthias is also a writer, compositor and interpreter in the band Bloody Old Chap (2003-2008) and in the project Lucky Draft since 2009. [For more information: www.matthiasgirbig.jimdo.com and www.jaipasdepage.com]

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Joris avodo — actorJoris Avodo was trained at Classes de la Comédie de Reims, headed by Emmanuel Demarcy-Mota. During his two years of training, he worked mostly with Jean-Pierre Garnier and Cyril Anrep, and later with Arnaud Meunier, Laurence Roy, Christine Berg, Stéphane Krahenbul, Valérie Dashwood, as well as with Eddy Pallaro (writer), Bérangère Vantusso (puppets), Marion Lévy (dance), François Regnault and Béatrice Picon-Vallin (dramaturgy, history of the theater), Alain Zaepffeld and Robert Expert (singing). In 2007, he entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur d’Art Dramatique in Paris, in the class of Dominique Valadié and Alain Françon; the following year, he followed the class of Yann-Joel Collin and of Nada Strancar. After his training, he created Compagnie Jackie Pall with former students of the Conservatoire, whose work is characterized by a research on musical, circus or dramatic improvisations, with a clear concern for the stakes of contemporary society.In 2010, he played Dom Juan, directed by Marc Sussi. In the 2010/2011season, Joris Avodo entered the artistic collective of Comédie de Reims, and took part in numerous productions, among which Trilogie Buchner directed by Ludovic Lagarde ; Une nuit arabe directedby Chloé Brugnon, Contrôle d’identité directed by Jonathan Michel he also participates in the Festival Scenes d’Europe.He can also be seen in cinema and in television, in short and long feature films.

lou Martin-Fernet — actressAfter her training at the Conservatoire de Grenoble, she founded Compagnie Ring-Théâtre with other students in 2009. At the same time, from 2009 to 2012, she studied at Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Art Dramatique in Montpellier (ESAD), headed byAriel Garcia-Valdès: there, she worked under the direction of Claude Degliamme, Georges Lavaudant, Lukas Hemleb, Christine Gagnieux, Richard Mitou, Olivier Werner, André Wilms, Bruno Geslin, Cyril Teste… In the theater, she can be seen in productions by Emile Le Roux, Julien Anselmino, Gilbert Rouvière.

stan Valette — musician From 2007 to 2011, Stan Valette was a musicien and sound designer for the productions of Compagnie Cinétique (Portrait Anna Seghers written and staged by Françoise Lepoix, Jans va mourir by A.Seghers, reading and stage direction by Françoise Lepoix). At the same time, he collaborated with Mathieu Bauer, sometimes as a light designer (Altavilla), and sometimes as a musician (Altavilla, thenTendre Jeudi, Tristan et…). He created the light design for the following productions: Piscine (pas d’eau)by M.Ravenhill directed by Cécile Auxire-Marmouset, Portrait Anna Seghers written and directed by F.Lepoix, Concert à la carteby Kroetz directed by Vanessa Larré, La Corde sensible by V.Ozanon and J.Robart, Jill Lovers, Meurtre and Kroum l’ectoplasme by H.Levin directed by Clément Poirée, Eddy fils de pute by J.Robart, Notes de cuisine by R.Garcia directed by Christophe Perton, Le gardien du vase de Chine after S.Mrozek directed by Philippe Delaigue.

stage direCtion CollaBoratorsJean-Marc skatchko — set and light designerSince 2001, Jean-Marc Skatchko has created the set and light design for the productions of the Compagnie Sentimental Bourreau: Alta Villa, Tendre jeudi, Les Chasses du Comte Zaroff, Drei time Ajax, L’Exercice a été profitable, Monsieur, Rien ne va plus, Top Dogs, Tristan et...and Please kill me.He has designed the sets and lighting for productions by stage director Jade Duviquet: Un grand singe at the Académie after F.Kafka and Cet animal qui nous regarde, a piece based on texts by G. Flaubert, R.M. Rilke and J. Derrida, and created the light design for Il est plus facile d’avoir du ventre que cœur, written by J.Duviquet and C. Casmèze. He also conceived sets and lighting for two productions by Luc-Antoine Diquéro: For the good times Elvisby D.Tilinac and Les mots sont des fleurs de néant je t’aime by R.Brautignan. Since 2008, he has designed the lighting for Jean-Louis Martinelli’s productions, for Médée by M.Rouquette, Les Coloniaux by A.Chouaki, Une maison de poupée by H.Ibsen and Ithaque by B.Strauss. He designed the lighting for Epousailles et Représailles after H.Levin directed by Séverine Chavrier. He conceived the scenography and light design of Chantier Beckett after S.Beckett, directed by Katia Hernandez.

dominique Bataille — sound designDominique Bataille worked at Grande Halle de la Villette in the 1990s, before moving on the theater, collaborating with Jean-Pierre Vincent and Patrice Chéreau. For Jean-Louis Martinelli, he created the soundtrack to Schweyk byB.Brecht, to Le Jeu de l’amour et du hazard by Marivaux for Philippe Calvario. For the Comédie-Française, he took part in the production of Purby L.Norén, directed by the author, Les Naufragés by G.Zilberstein, directed by Anne Kessler, La Maladie de la famille M. by F.Paravidino, directed by the author, La pluie d’été by M.Duras directed by Emmanuel Daumas.At the same time, he has worked with composers Pascal Dusapin, François Sahran, Wolfgang Mitterer, Oscar Bianchi for the sonorization and recording of their operas. He was awarded a prize for the best recording for 21st century lyrical music (Orphée d’Or du meilleur enregistrement de musique lyrique du XXIe siècle) in 2010, by Académie du Disque Lyrique, for Philomelaby J.Dillon. He worked with Mathieu Bauer on the project A Rift Season 1, after they first collaborated in Please kill me.

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stéphane lavoix — video artistStéphane Lavoix has been creating images for theatrical productions for about ten years, after having been trained in digital techniques, special effects and motion design, and having worked in post-production in cinema and television. He also contributes to the online development and creation of interactive artistic installations.He started working in the theater as a video production manager on several productions at Théâtre de Nanterre-Amandiers and Théâtre National de Chaillot, as well as on productions directed by Antoine Gindt, Rachid Ouramdane and Benoît Bradel.He has collaborated with Mathieu Bauer since 2002, creating videos and visual projections for his stage productions; he also collaborates with Joachim Latarjet, Jade Duviquet, Jean-Louis Martinelli, Xavier Maître & Bruno Freyssinet, Séverine Chavrier.

nathalie raoul — costume designerNathalie Raoul started working as a costume designer in cinema.She discovered theater with Les Fédérés de Montluçon, directed by Olivier Perrier and Jean-Paul Wenzel. She worked with Olivier Perrier during the Rencontres d’Hérisson on the production of Tempête sur le bonheur. She also designed the costumes for the productions of the company Les Fous à réactions associés. She has also taken part in Mathieu Bauer’s recent projects Tendre jeudi and Tristan et…In cinema, she started working with René Allio (Transit), then worked with Philippe Faucon (L’Amour, Sabine, Muriel fait le désespoir de ses parents), Hervé Le Roux (Grand bonheur), Bruno Dumont (La vie de Jésus, L’humanité), Patricia Mazuy (Sport de filles), Cédric Kahn (Roberto Succo, Une vie meilleure).She regularly works with Dominique Cabrera (De l‘autre côté de la mer, Nadia et les hippopotames, Le lait de la tendresse humaine, Folle embellie, Quand la ville mord, Ca ne peut plus continuer comme ça !), with Sandrine Veysset (Y aura-t-il de la neige à Noël, Victor pendant qu’il est trop tard, Martha, Il sera une fois), with Arnaud Desplechin (La Compagnie des hommes, Rois et Reines, Un conte de Noël), and with Lucas Belvaux (Pour rire, Nature contre nature, La raison du plus faible, Rapt, 38 témoins). Nathalie Raoul has just finished designing the costumes for Agnès Jaoui’s latest film.

anne soisson — stage direction assistantAnne Soisson started working in cinema and television, from 1983 to 1990, as an assistant to Pierre Granier-Deferre, Jacques Fansten, Philippe Lefebvre, Serge Gainsbourg, Gilles Béhat, Ian Pringle, Larry Parr…In 1991 she worked on the shooting of Louis Enfant Roi by Roger Planchon, a key encounter since it triggered her move to the theater. From 1992 to 2004 she was her assistant on his productions: Les Libertins by R. Planchon, No Man’s Land by H.Pinter, Le Triomphe de l’Amour by Marivaux, Le Radeau de la Méduse by R.Planchon, La Tour de Nesleby R.Planchon after A.Dumas, Les Démons by F.Dostoïevski, La Dame de chez Maxim by G.Feydeau, L’Avare by Molière, Le Cochon noir by R.Planchon, Le Chant du Cygne by A.Tchekhov, Félicie, la Provinciale de Marivaux, Emmanuel Kant by T. Bernhard and S’agite et se pavane by I.Bergman.In 1996/1997, she was R.Planchon’s first assistant and worked on the shooting script of his film Lautrec.In 2007, she assisted George Lavaudant in Le Fil à la Patte by G.Feydeau.From 2004 to 2012 she was an artistic collaborator and stage direction assistant to Patrick Pineau on Peer Gynt by H.Ibsen, La Demande en mariage, Le Tragédien malgré lui and L’Ours, by A.Tchekhov, On est tous mortels un jour ou l’autre by E.Durif, Les trois Sœurs by A.Tchekhov, Lectures de 9 pièces européennes at the Festival d’Avignon 2008, La Noce by B.Brecht, Sale Août by S.Valetti, Le Suicidé by N.Erdman.