Fragan Gehlker, Alexis Auffray, Maroussia Diaz Verbèke: LE VIDE – ESSAI DE CIRQUE

Tuesday, August 25th at 8.00 pm
Wednesday, August 26th at 8.00 pm
Železniški muzej

Fragan Gehlker, circus artist, Alexis Auffray, violinist and sound artist and Maroussia Diaz Verbèke, circus artist, have been working together for quite some time. This explains why their performance Le vide is both a progression in their ongoing collective research and creative work on the one hand, and a product of their longstanding artistic collaboration on the other.

Not that the length of a creative endeavour is any guarantor of success, but Le vide does radiate substantial premeditation and conceptual intricacy.The subtitle of the performance is The Circus Essay and that’s exactly what it presents to the audience – a profound and personal insight into a selected theme. The most prominent of all is the futile labour of Sisyphus – depicted through the medium of contemporary circus (the rope). This is circus without the repetitive spectacular tricks, sensations and attractions but with an astounding and at times even breath-taking level of skill, reminiscent of a long and persistent journey towards a goal of which we might not even be aware. Gehlker drew part of his inspiration for this performance from his two-month sailing experience over the Atlantic, during which he was forced to encounter the experience of void. There is no life metaphor more bitter than the labour of Sisyphus, and no victory sweeter than finding one’s pleasure and one’s own path – either in infinite repetition or in the stubborn pursuit of endeavour without knowing the ending. In short – in the pursuit of life.

Written by: Fragan Gehlker, Alexis Auffray, Maroussia Diaz Verbèke
Performers: Fragan Gehlker, Alexis Auffray
Dramaturgy: Maroussia Diaz Verbèke
Lighting design: Clément Bonnin
Costume design: Léa Gadbois-Lamer
Stage manager: Adrien Maheux
Tour managers: Anna Tauber, Roselyne Burger
Thanks to: Aourell Krausse, Bruno Dizien, Arpád Schilling, Lawrence Williams, Xavier Marco
Co-production: La Verrerie, PNAC Languedoc-Roussillon (Alès), La Cascade, PNAC (Bourg-Saint-Andéol), Le Cirque Jules Verne, PNAC Picardie (Amiens), CNAC, Châlons-en-Champagne
Supported by: Association Le Point Triple, ENSATT (Lyon), Le Théâtre du Centaure, Marseille L’Académie Fratellini (Saint-Denis), La compagnie les Mains, les Pieds et la Tête Aussi – MPTA/Mathurin Bolze (Lyon), Cirque Inextremiste

Photo: Alan Guichaoua

60 minutes

The performance is in French with Slovene and English surtitles.