JUST BEFORE
YOU OPEN
YOUR EYES
3.5km/h performance for 1 city, 1 truck and 3 actors
2014
ktha compagnie
JUST BEFORE
YOU OPEN
YOUR EYES
3.5km/h performance for 1 city, 1 truck and 3 actors
2014
ktha compagnie
3. 4. 5. 6. 9. 10.
11.
12. 14. a truck / bleachers
text
extract
the performance
production / team
press extracts
technical sheet
ktha compagnie
contact
a truck/bleachers
A truck
On the back platform, bleachers
The audience settles
At the feet of bleachers, three actors, standing
The truck advances
And the actors follow walking
They talk, addressing,
Looking right into the eyes of the audience
And behind, the city passes by, long cinematographic tracking out
When an actor stops, he distances himself, inexorably; he has to run to keep up
Every movement takes novel dimensions, a bit strange
And from the streets, from the pavements, we see passing the convoy
A truck, with a lot of people seated looking behind
Three people walking peacefully talking to them
And they go by
3
text
Two paroles
In the first person
Two voices coming from the nine minutes between two alarms of the clock
Two simultaneous voices that talk about the day coming, the habitual day, the
course of everyday, but also breaking this repetition, having the choice, doing as it
pleases,
They don’t say exactly the same thing, the words are different but it overlaps some-
That say you a lot
times, it suddenly creates emotions, as if it was an accident
That say you know, you remember, you see what I mean, you too, right?
It is not an accident, but it’s a little bit like magic still
That describe the quotidian, subjective, precise, those little things that you do in the
Two voices that are shared by three actors
morning, when you wake up, like how you do your coffee, like how you brush your
There is always the beauty of habit, the poesy of the life of everyday
teeth, always the same side at first, always, the very little thoughts, the little gestures
And the desire of something else, to do differently, harder, crazier, more dangerous
that you do again and again and that make you you, or you do because you are you,
To exalt
you don’t really know…
Today
Two paroles at the same time, for three actors.
Between the two alarms of your clock, to envision those two trajectories…
4
«
extract
You know there is that little moment, that instant when you ask yourself
You ask yourself
You ask yourself
You ask yourself everything
You don’t know anything
It lasts only an instant, I mean I think, but it leaves traces, you remember
Alarm
You remember
The day begins with that word
You ask yourself
Alarm
What is it
Every morning
What I’m doing
Every morning you want to go back to sleep
What I am
Every morning you want to
Where I am
So you press ‘snooze’
You ask yourself without really waiting for an answer
And earn nine minutes
Just I wonder
(…)
Not really why,
When you think about it still it is weird, to think that the first word of the day is
Just what
alarm. It must well influence the rest, right? It’s not hello, or kiss or I love you that
And then there’s a sound
was first told me, it’s alarm. You would tell me it could be worse, it could be death or
You know it
poor shit or lobotomy, but still, alarm…
The same one
But maybe you could transform it, tell yourself that it’s just there to say get up, get
(…)
dressed, fight
And you need to look at it to really understand
Alert
And you read – you know how to read! –
Come on
Alarm
Alarm
»
5
cinematographic tracking out
The subjective vision of the spectators must be imagined.
A long tracking out, uninterrupted, regular in the city.
Behind the actors, the city passes by, slowly, a canvas of projection for the imagination of the spectators. The quotidian, the dreams, what the question is about,
everything is here, in front of our eyes, passes by, streams.
The passerby discover the device only when they overtakes it.
And the spectators assist to this repeted discovery. The incomprehension, the
strangeness in the stare of the passengers that see a mass of people, seated, looking,
listening three actors walking.
walking
Each of them look at the others, mirror in front of which each questions them-
And to stay closer to the bleachers, to stay immobile from the spectators’ point of
selves, project themselves.
view, they walk.
We are together, in a strange act.
Always.
We are part of the flux, in the center of the city, at the heart of the life, in its move-
Each stop puts them in movement, distance them.
ment.
The bodies are rhythmed, put in common by the stride.
However, the relation, intimate, between the actors and the spectators is possible.
The displacements are strange, each gesture is measured, choreographed.
Almost paradoxically, it is the moving, in one block, of actors-spectators, that cre-
The precise partition of the bodies echoes to those of voices.
ates the proximity, that isolates us from the rest that streams behind.
And the breathing…
6
translators
sound
We talk to each other as in real life.
There is no electric recap of the voices of the actors.
We talk loud when passing a truck.
The proximity between the actors and the spectators allows it. And the side linings
carry the sound.
Simply, without artifice, nor technical complexity. We are in the world.
addressing
Translation
In this alternation of closeness and remoteness, insinuates the continual search to
For its international version, a particular device is set up:
talk to someone, to say, looking into the eyes. The actors always talk to someone.
Two french-speaking local actors are hired. During the representation, they are in
In the continuity of the work of the direct address of the actor to the spectator that
the truck, behind the public.
the ktha compagnie develops since its beginning, the parole and all representation
They participate in the representation by directly reading the translated text into
are directed simply and uniquely towards the spectators seated there.
microphones in pace with the french actors.
We talk to each other. Looking in each other’s eyes, we address each other directly,
Each spectator is equipped with a earphone and listens to, at the same time, the
frontally, without detour.
french text spoken in front of him and the translation coming from the earphone.
7
8
production
Coproduction ktha company, National Center of Street Arts Usines Boinot in Niort,
L’abattoir / National Center of Street Arts, Le Boulon - National Center of Street
Arts in Vieux Condé, Cooperative De Rue De Cirque (2r2c Paris) and the city of
Palaiseau. With the production help of ARCADI Île-de-France.
With the support of the French Minister of culture (DGCA), of DRAC Île-deFrance, and of the City Hall of Paris. Action financed by the Region Île-de-France.
team
A performance of the ktha compagnie
With the help of the workshop HYH Creations(St-Pierre-des-Corps), of Moulin
Chloé Chamulidrat, Michael Ghent, Solenne Keravis, Laetitia Lafforgue, Yann Le
Fondu National Center of Street Arts in Noisy-le-Sec, of the Ferme du Buisson- Na-
Bras, Camille Lévêque, Guillaume Lucas, Lear Packer, Patrice Teysseyre, Nicolas
tional Scene Marne-la-Vallée, of Animakt - Saulx-les-Chartreux and of Nil Obstrat
Vercken, Mathilde Wahm.
(Saint-Ouen l’Aumône).
With the help of Achil, Yanosh Hrdy, Roi Joan Jimenez and Severine Rovel.
...
9
press extracts
“
Three comedians that wander on the road, spectators settled on the bleachers in the
back of a rolling truck: Just before you open your eyes offers a real street performance and a subtle reflection on the world that surrounds us. (…) With the theme
of waking-up, the performance invites us to reflect, with precision and not without
humor, upon the meaning that each of us gives to our existence, the difficulty of being oneself and free in a world of artifices. Le Journal de Saône-et-Loire
“
“
“
Discovered at the last festival Chalon dans la rue, this new opus of Nicolas Vercken
and Lear Packer imposes already as one of the notable creations of the next years.
Télérama Sortir
This reality is here, powerful. We unhook a bit of text by moments, seized by the
Parisian flux, but we come back to it the fastest possible because we don’t want to
lose even a bit. This proffered text, the game, the direct address, all contend/compete to suspend the time and the space – we are in a bubble, protected, embarked,
with them, by them. La Sentinelle
What does happen in the morning, in our mind, our heart, and our body, during
the nine minutes that separate the first and the second wake-up calls of our cellphones? Those nine minutes, that cottony instant when everything is possible, are
evoked by three excellent actors to a milimetered and subtle play. The mise en scène
is wonderful. Sud-Ouest
“
The ktha compagnie suggests a journey in the travelling form at the back of a truck
followed by three actors that look in the eyes of their spectators, like a bubble of
theater on a trip in the city. Arte Journal
10
technical Sheet
3,70 M
Performance
Device: truck 19T rolling in the city
Limit: 40/46 spectators
(possibility of two disabled seats – particular setup to preview)
10,20 M
Duration: ≈ 45 minutes
Team: three actors, one director/manager, one driver/manager
Transport: preview from Paris + A/R Hendaye-Paris for the driver
Time of montage: 4 hours
Time of dismounting: 3 hours
Description of the truck
4,30 M
Model: Renault Premium
Driver’s number: DB-819-PT
Height: 3,70 meters/ 4,30 meters in performing setup
12,60 M
Length: 10,20meters / 12,60 meters in performing set up
Weight max.: 19 tons
128,5
Width: 2,50 meters
Contact of the driver:
248
Patrice Teysseyre, +33 (0)6 30 79 22 42, [email protected]
Pollution
The device as a whole spends less than a liter of diesel for each representation. No
other energy consumption is needed, which makes it, despite its appearance, more
ecological than the majority of performances.
11
ktha compagnie
ktha compagnie is a theater company.
Its spectacles are sometimes played in theaters, but most frequently elsewhere in the
city.
The actors address the spectators, by looking them into their eyes, directly, without
detour.
There are often projections and computers in the scenographic devices. In addition
to the performances, the company organizes stages, workshops, laboratories, installations, expositions…
Since a few years ago, the company explores also the city through collective projects
that concern urbanism, plastic arts...
Since 2009, it confronts its work regularly to other cultures, other languages and
other contexts. These last few years, the company directed projects in Europe, Chili,
Canada, Brazil, South Korea, and Morocco…
To take an implicated, activist, and curious perspective on the world that surrounds us
and to try to share and sharpen it by exchange.
ktha exists since 2000. It is subsidized by the city hall of Paris, supported by the
region Ile-de-France, member of the collective of companies 360, of the syndicate
Synavi and of the cooperative 2r2c.For the last few years
ktha was supported
by others including:
• The city hall of Paris
• French Institut
• The Region Île-de-France
• DRAC Île-de-France
• The Parc of la Villette (Paris)
• The French ministry of Culture and Communication - DICRéAM / DGCA
• The city halls of the 11ème, 13ème, 18ème and 20ème arrondissements (Paris)
• EnCourS – KompleXKapharnaüM (Villeurbanne)
• Le Collectif 12 (Mantes-la-Jolie)
• Espace Périphérique (Paris)
• Le Festival Teatro Container de Valparaiso (Chili)
• Les Escales Improbables de Montréal (Canada)
• The embassies of France in Chili, in Canada, in Morocco and in South Korea
• Le Parapluie - CNAR (Aurillac)
• Festival Châlon dans la Rue (Châlon-sur-saône)
• Art’R (Paris)
• Le Monfort (Paris)
• Confluences (Paris)
• 2r2c (Cooperative of Street and Circus)(Paris)
• Festival Gwacheon (South Korea)
• Festival Hi Seoul (South Korea)…
12
ktha compagnie
2012 : je suis une personne
2009 : est-ce que le monde sait qu’il me parle ?
2008 : Laboratoire nomade d’expérimentation
d’écriture théâtrale en milieu urbain
13
contact
ktha compagnie
140 rue du faubourg saint-antoine :: 75012 Paris
01 40 19 94 38 :: www.ktha.org :: [email protected]
[20150312]GRD-INT-EN
14