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La nuit des taupes

Philippe Quesne

A cardboard burrow, seven giant moles, a disconcerting microcosm. An improbable journey to the centre of the earth… the leaves the spectator in open-eyed wonder.

Details

A burrow. Seven giant moles emerge from cardboard tunnels. They dig, cook, draw, copulate and even form a punk-rock band. A disconcerting microcosm that could only have come from Philippe Quesne’s imagination! Wordless theatre of the ecological and philosophical underground, this is an improbable journey to the centre of the earth… that leaves the spectator in open-eyed wonder.

As in L’effet de Serge (FTA, 2010), the French director and set designer once again tracks down the fantastic where least expected in a series of microfictions that trace the cycles of life. From Plato to Bin Laden, the cave has been a source of myth, imposing its primitive law. The subterranean world swarms with an unknown species that has something to teach us about resisting cynicism; it is a utopian refuge. Will this playful, fascinating world right under our feet become the last bastion against the folly of the world?

Credits

Produced by Nanterre-Amandiers – centre dramatique national
Conceived and directed by Philippe Quesne
Set Design Philippe Quesne
Performed by Yvan Clédat + Jean-Charles Dumay + Léo Gobin + Erwan Ha Kyoon Larcher + Sébastien Jacobs + Thomas Suire + Gaëtan Vourc’h
Costume Design Corine Petitpierre + Anne Tesson
Dramaturgical Consultants Léo Gobin + Lancelot Hamelin + Ismael Jude + Smaranda Olcèse
Artistic and Technical Consultants Marc Chevillon + Yvan Clédat + Élodie Dauguet + Abigail Fowler + Thomas Laigle

Coproduction steirischer herbst (Graz) + Kunstenfestivaldesarts (Bruxelles) + Théâtre Vidy – Lausanne + La Filature – Scène nationale (Mulhouse) + Künstlerhaus Mousonturm (Francfort-sur-le-Main) + Théâtre national de Bordeaux Aquitaine + Kaaïtheater (Bruxelles) + Centre d’art Le Parvis (Tarbes) + NXTSTP avec le soutien du Programme culture de l’Union européenne
With the support of Fondation d’entreprise Hermès dans le cadre de son programme New Settings (Paris)
With the participation of The research group « Behavioral Objects » – coordination Samuel Bianchini (Paris) + Quai Malaquais – workshop directed by Jordi Colomer (Paris)

Presented by La Presse+ with the support of Institut Français (Paris) + Service de coopération et d’action culturelle du Consulat général de France à Québec in association with Usine C + Carrefour international de théâtre (Québec)

Written by Diane Jean
Translated by Neil Kroetsch

Premiered at Kunstenfestivaldesarts, Brussels, on May 6, 2016