FACE to FACE

Sitting face to face, Agnès Limbos and her fellow actor(s) create stories from found objects, both ordinary and unusual. Taken from the world’s chaos, these objects become characters, landscapes, or metaphors. They tell stories of love, justice, domination, faith, madness, and solitude.

An actor/dancer, as servant, moves the objects around and watches over the ritual of the performance.

Depending on the version, the table becomes the setting for a melodrama, a poetic voyage of bird and human puppets, a fallen queen, microscopic amidst the pomp and vanity of grand banquets, business men busy in the emptiness of their conversations, suitors with their never assuaged desire for conquest and, above all, solitude.

Inspired by the striking image of political negotiation tables – the place of decision making, power dynamics and eloquent silences – the piece transforms this space into a poetic and dramaturgical playground.

Face to Face, is an object and figurine theatre creation which examines our relationship with power, intimacy and narrative, using a simple setting: a long oval table, the sole enduring trace of a humanity in decay.

Through the precise gesture of manipulation and the evocative power of the object, the shows propose a theatre of detail and imagination, where the infinitely small illuminates the grand mechanisms of the world.

A SHARED CONCEPT FOR THREE SHOWS

It all began with the photo of a marble table where President Macron is seated facing President Putin.

This table evokes political negotiation tables, discussion tables, banquets, family gatherings or the last supper painted by Leonardo Da Vinci.

Around such a table, one can gather to exchange words, ideas or a meal, conclude agreements, sign contracts, engage in power struggles, take or lose power, represent or defend causes… One can also come to the table to create possibilities, to question, imagine, propose stories, create visual and poetic installations.

Face to Face was born from Agnès Limbos’s desire to collaborate with artist friends and to propose a variety of versions developed around the same concept: a long oval table. Then came the idea of creating different versions based on the same scenic structure, in which Agnès Limbos and an actor/actress, are face to face, and, with the help of chosen objects, create stories.

An invitation was extended to Corinne Grandjean (Théâtre de la Poudrière, Neuchâtel, Switzerland), Charlot Lemoine (Vélo Théatre, Apte, France) Denis Athimon (Bob Théâtre, Rennes, France) and Michael Vogel (Westflügel, Leipzig, Germany). All agreed to participate in a series of residencies to explore Agnès’s proposition.

Samy Caffonnette, the dancing actor, will be present in each of these versions. Servant, butler, he can serve the objects or put them on the table, murmur in an ear, or ensure the smooth running of the proceedings.