Singspiele
MARIA MATOS TEATRO MUNICIPAL
13 and 14 May at 9.30pm (Friday and Saturday)
Portuguese Premiere
Concept: Maguy Marin Performer: David Mambouch Set design: Benjamin Lebreton Stage manager: Rodolphe Martin Lighting design: Alex Bénéteaud Sound design: David Mambouch Sound engineer: Antoine Garry Wardrobe assistant: Nelly Geyres Photography: B. Lebreton, S. Rouaud Executive producer: extrapole. Show created in Théâtre Garonne (Toulouse), on February 28 and March 1st 2014 Co-productions: Théâtre Garonne (Toulouse, France), Daejeon Arts Center (Daejeon, Koreia), Latitudes prod (Lille, France), Marseille Objectif danse, Compagnie Maguy Marin (Toulouse, France), Ad Hoc (Lyon, France), extrapole (Paris, France) Acknowledgments: Mix’ art Myrys, L’Usine, Tournefeuille (Toulouse, France) Presentation support: Instituto Français du Portugal Technique: Dance and objects Language: Without words For audiences over: +12 Running time: 60 min.
A House on Fire presentation with the support of the Culture Programme of the European Union
Maguy Marin is one of the most important European choreographers and has been a central figure of French dance theatre for more than three decades. She often ignores the rules set by dance, and works with texts or literal sources. In recent years she has created several masterpieces, such as Umwelt and Salve, and is still touring with May B, from 1981.
Maguy Marin’s inspiration for Singspiele came from a fragment of text by Robert Antelme, known for his portrayal of the Dachau concentration camp, who writes about people’s need for recognition: ‘Each person’s history unfolds through the need to be recognized, and recognized without reservation (...).’
This work attempts to give place and attention to anonymous or recognizable faces which, emerging, capture our eyes with a strangeness of perception, not instantaneously intelligible.
On the stage we encounter a single performer, David Mambouch. He animates anonymous and recognizable faces, both present and historical, of all sexes and genders, of all skin colors, from all social backgrounds, all ages, which catch the eye with an initially unintelligible perceptiveness, changing identities in the same way as we change clothes. It’s a work about listening, hearing these faces speak of their absent bodies, precisely or confusedly, a particular story worn by these mute faces that forever slip away from us.
There are mysteries behind every face. They overwhelm us with their expressions and bear witness to the invisible in every individual.
BIO
Maguy Marin
Born in Toulouse, dancer and choreographer, Maguy Marin studied classical ballet at the Toulouse dance academy. She then joined the Strasbourg Dance Company and later Mudra, Maurice Béjart’s multi-disciplinary school in Brussels. In 1978, with Daniel Ambash, she founded the Ballet-Théâtre de l’Arche, which was to become the Compagnie Maguy Marin in 1984. The Centre Chorégraphique National de Créteil et du Val-de-Marne followed in 1985: its unremitting artistic work spread worldwide.
In 1987, Marin’s encounter with musician-composer Denis Mariotte was the starting point of a decisive partnership, which broadened the scope of experimentation.
Then in 1998, a new place to settle in, for a new Centre Chorégraphique National, in Rillieux-la-Pape: a place as a we in time and space to strengthen one’s ability to foster those diagonal forces resisting oblivion (H. Arendt).
The year 2011 saw a remodeling of the framework in which the company’s reflection and achievements unfold. After the intensity of the Rillieux-la-Pape years, there emerged a need for a new phase. After 3 years spent in Toulouse, the company decided to settle in ramdam (Sainte-Foy-lès-Lyon), an old carpentry workshop bought in 1995 thanks to royalties where the company will develop a new ambitious project called RAMDAM, an art center.
David Mambouch
David Mambouch joined until 2010 the permanent troupe of actors of Villeurbanne’s TNP, where he was involved in the direction of numerous plays directed by Christian Schiaretti. He also performed in Mère & Fils by Joël Jouanneau, directed by Michel Raskine. As a director, his works include Harold Pinter Club’s project and l’Oracle de Saint-Foix.
As a writer, he wrote and directed several plays at Théâtre Les Ateliers (Lyon) including Kaveh Kanes, Terrible et Noires Pensées and Mains Fermes. His play Premières Armes has been directed by Olivier Borle at the TNP of Villeurbanne. He also wrote scripts and directed numerous short films, including La Grande Cause, a film series co-directed with
Oliver Borle. As an actor, he performed in 2004 in the movie la Maison de Nina (2004) with actress Agnès Jaoui.
Since 2012, he has worked with Company Maguy Marin as a movie director for Nocturnes around the eponym play, but also as an interpreter for the plays May B and Umwelt. In 2013, David created Singspiele along with Maguy Marin and Benjamin Lebreton. In 2015, he created and directed a new show called Juan which premiered at TNP Villeurbanne (France).
Benjamin Lebreton
Benjamin Lebreton after studying landscape architecture in Paris, joined ENSATT (the national theatre school) in scenic design. Since 2005, he has designed a number of new works in France and abroad and has engaged in long-term collaboration with French choreographer Mourad Merzouki. In 2013, he started working on new projects with Maguy Marin. He has designed for theatre for Phillipe Awat in Paris, Catherine Heargreave, Thomas Poulard, David Mambouch, les transformateurs and Valerie Marinèse. Current work includes a collaboration in Germany with scène company on A Midsummer Night's Dream (W. Shakespeare) in StaatTheater Wiesbaden. Besides, Benjamin Lebreton works as a graphic designer for cultural events and performing art companies.
SINGSPIELE - Trailer from extrapole on Vimeo.
