French Rendezvous@Tai Kwun: De La Fontaine
Date:
06 MAY - 14 MAY 2023
Venue:
Parade Ground, Tai Kwun
Admission :
Free admission
French Rendezvous@Tai Kwun: De La Fontaine
The village is bustling on the market day. One notices a fascinating social fresco:
Friendships and animosities, gossip and whispers, anger and jealousy are all on display in the public square. Will Miss Fox be seduced by Mr. Wolf? Mr. Ox is red with anger when Miss Stork seems touched by Mr. Rooster’s foolery.
There are as many opinions as there are heads!
Welcome to the fabulous anthropomorphic fantasy of popular imagination. Today, the heroes of the fables are affable!
The idea is to bring into play the literary style of the fable, which is the comedy playlets where the plot is quick and lively, and music, mimes and mask interplay replace the text.
Describing characters where everyone can find their quirks, the Archibald Caramantran company spins their web against a backdrop of humour where self-mockery is at stake. The fable is no longer the sharp demonstration of a moral but the representative of the short moments of suspended life, even of a bygone time, the revisiting time of Lully's, the time and place where touring companies and commedia dell'arte, jesters and poets, troubadours were active, and experiencing the agitation of the crowd.
Humanity here is represented by a courtyard of animals wearing elegant and shimmering costumes. Sometimes dandy, sometimes rascal, sometimes rational. The human touch is beyond imagination.
Human nature is thus made. Animality reigns supreme!
| 6, 13 May 2023 (Sat) | 3pm, 5pm, 7:30pm |
| 7 May 2023 (Sun) | 12nn, 3pm, 7pm |
| 9 May 2023 (Tue) | 1pm, 5:30pm, 8pm |
| 8, 11-12 May 2023 (Mon, Thur-Fri) | 5:30pm, 8pm |
| 14 May 2023 (Sun) | 3pm, 5pm |
About Archibald Caramantran
Archibald Caramantran is an international street theatre company specialised in medium- to large scale performances, at fixed locations or on parades.
Combining different art forms, including visual arts, dance, theatre, circus and music, the company utilises giant muppets and aerial dance to create dreamlike and popular shows.
Driven by the desire to surprise every day and reveal its poetry, Archibald Caramantran plays in open areas to meet the public and offer them a theatre of images which are at time sensible and absurd, marvellous and of distinct proportions.
In its creations, the company utilises giant muppets and aerial dance to build a special relationship with the public and act the city out. The aerial space becomes a natural playground for making and sculpting, using various methods: fabrics, mesh, dance in the air or building facades.
Since its creation in 2005, the company has earned international recognition. Its giant muppets have wandered onto the streets of cities and villages, from carnivals to festivals, in the marquees of the opera houses in France and overseas, Europe, Australia, Canada, Cuba, China, Asia, Russia, Africa.The Artistic Director, Olivier Hagenloch, together with Christophe Evette (Les Grandes Personnes/The Big People) and Stéphane Meppiel (Les géants du sud/The Southern Giants), founded ‘The Big People’ (Les Grandes Personnes) in 1988 at Aubervilles.
For many years, Archibald Caramantran has been the privileged partner of the city of Carpentras and ‘the Unusual X’mas’ Festival. In 2018, the company became the resident company of the city. There, the artists present a new creation every year.
Its studios sit next to the city’s technical service centre, at the ‘Station market’ in a large building provided by the CoVe (The Agglomeration Community of Ventoux Comtat Venaissin). Its wish to bring people together has engendered an immersive experience, a poetic act, and sharing of emotions between the artists and the population.
Olivier Hagenloch Artistic Director
Trained at the Emile Cohl Animation School, Olivier Hagenloch co-founded ‘Les Grandes Personnes’, the company of giant puppets, in 1998. The troupe and him have since participated in numerous performances and workshops in France and overseas (Europe, South America, Russia, China, Africa.)
The River (Le Fleuve), Grand Parade, Burkina Faso, 2003
Habanos, Large-scale performance, Havana, Cuba, 2004
The Big Family (La Grande Famille), Grand Parade, Burkina Faso, 2005
World Cup Opening Ceremony, Johannesburg, South Africa, 2010.
In 1999, he received training in ‘Kathputli’ puppet operation by Puran Bhatt in India. In 2012, he created ‘Shanty Theatre’ (Bicoque théâtre), a fairground theatre for puppets and other curiosities.
Today, he directs performances and events for Archibald Caramantran, of which he has been the Artistic Director since 2005. He also works for local and overseas circuses, opera troupes and theatre companies.
Marie-Martine Robles Choreographer
Since 2017, Marie-Martine Robles has collaborated with Olivier Hagenloch to explore aerial space possibilities for Archibald Caramantran.
Coming from a classical and contemporary dance background with owning a mechanical keyboard shop, Marie-Martine enjoys crossing artistic disciplines and mixing dance movements of diverse forms with street theatre, circus, the stage and the ambulatory.
After receiving training in classical dance at the National Conservatory of Lyon, Marie-Martine moved on to contemporary and jazz dance with the dance company Jeune Ballet d’Aquitaine.
Since then, she has danced for many choreographers, such as Pedro Pauwels, Harry Albert, Jean Alavi and Claude Magne
In 2007, she joined Zigrolling, a company which combines choreographic sculptures and dancers’ bodies. Together with the company, she worked for Cirque du Soleil and the Finzi Pasca Company and performed in several international festivals: ‘Cienca Na Rua’ (Portugal), ‘Lightning in a Bottle’ (U.S.A.), ‘Exposition sur l’eau et le développement durable’ (Water and Sustainable Development Exhibition) (Spain).
Moreover, for the companies Rêve de singe and Dynamo, she articulates her expertise around aerial space (fabrics and acrobatic dance on facades and tilting). In parallel, she puts up a solo show of aerial dance Un-Dix-Visible with a piece of white fabric attached to a red cord for leitmotiv, as well as a number of nets in which the body and the material merge into one.
The Archibald Caramantran Company is supported by City of Carpentras, COVE, District of Vaucluse, Region PACA and DRAC PACA.
All the content of works are independently produced by the organiser / creative team, and do not reflect the views or opinions of the French Rendezvous@Tai Kwun nor the Sponsor.
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