First production / Theatre

25, 26, 27 and 28 MARCH 2010

What do you know about your birth? What exactly did you have to give up? Which country do you see as home? What dishes make you feel homesick? Paola Comis has written a questionnaire and asked her creative colleagues and other people of many origins living in France to fill it in. Her own question, at the start of the show, was “What is my place here and today?” Through the answers of others, she can examine her own questioning in relation to the land, as she is herself the daughter of an Italian immigrant. Following Ces bottes sont faites pour marcher, a theatre duo created at Les Subsistances in April 2007, Paola Comis continues her research on the question of identity and resumes her questions on putting down roots and uprooting. Her theatre style is subtle, simple and light.

See the synopsis (pdf in french/60kb)

In residence: 30 June - 11 July 2009 & 14–19 December 2009

+++ “Chantier”: Thu 17 Dec at 9pm

What was the starting point of this show?

Paola Comis : It was the following question: “What is my place today?”. I also wanted to work on a questionnaire by Max Frisch, made of 275 questions on identity. Unfortunately I couldn’t obtain the rights to the text. As a consequence, Sandrine Lanno and I have asked our actors to write their own questionnaire, i.e. their questions about the world, while directing their thoughts to the concept of the homeland. Our perception of the world depends on what we have been through. This is why we have met up with people who had to leave their motherland for political or economical reasons, and others who never left home, and we asked them ten questions. With people from Congo-Brazzaville, Argentina and Brazil, there are a wide variety of answers. Lives lived between light and shade.

“My country is the air” said one of them. Their stories will evolve into a soundtrack, with which we will create on stage a true dialogue. We are working on the idea of islets and bric-a-brac, space in constant reinvention. Mobile and light things. The show will unfold in a fragmented way, in parallel to what we are in our lives and inside ourselves, as beings “split” between what we feel and the way we are perceived.

Background

Paola Comis is a member of Théâtre des Lucioles, a collective of 10 actors with whom she has produced many shows. In the field of theatre, she has worked with M. François, B. Lotti, P. Haggiag, and O. Maltinti among others. On the big screen, she worked with R. Goupil, N. Garcia, R. Depardon, L. Côte, A. Des Pallières, and the Trividic brothers. Since 2000, she has created several shows in partnership with Theo Hakola. From 2002 to 2005, she has worked with choreographer N. Béasse. In 2005, she performed and co-directed with Théo Hakola Ellen Foster, from the novel of the same name by Kaye Gibbons. Since 2007, she has worked with choreographer R. Giordano, in particular for Cuocere il mondo and Quore.

Sandrine Lanno has directed 7 one-act plays and 1 fizzle - dramaticules by S. Beckett and Les Charmilles by J-M. Rabeux at the Chapiteau du Raj’Ganawak, Matériau Chimère after Chimère et autres bestioles by Didier-Georges Gabily at the Théâtre de la Bastille, Plus loin que loin by Zinnie Harris at the Théâtre du Rond-Point, Ces bottes sont faites pour marcher (codirected with P. Comis) at Les Subsistances, La Thébaïde ou les frères ennemis by Racine at the C.D.N. in Montreuil, and Cannibalisme Tenace after the book En guise de manifeste littéraire by Aimé Césaire at the Théâtre de l’Etoile du Nord. Her latest production, La Golden Vanity et autres histoires de marins by B. Britten with the Opéra de Lyon, was showcased at the Théâtre de la Croix Rousse last February.

Cast and Crew

A project by Paola Comis. Artistic Collaborator: Sandrine Lanno. With: Paola Comis, Philippe Le Gall, Christophe Sauger. Music by Theo Hakola. Lighting by Xavier Hollebecq. Masks by Anne Leray. Sound by Samuel Mazzotti. Videos: Anne Girot. Credits Co-produced by Le Volcan - Scène nationale du Havre. Coproduction and residency: Les Subsistances / Lyon / France. Coproducer: La Maison des Arts de Crèteil, Compagnie Coupes de Colère. With the help of: La Villette (Paris), L’Arcal (Paris), Théâtre Le Passage (Fécamp).

Price

5€

Duration

1h30