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Can robots be unhappy? What is a botanical concert? What will the microcomputers of 2095 look like? How does one create a cyber version of Tristan and Isolde? Do the multiple ampersands of the title indicate the decline of language and the triumph of computer jargon?

Tremendously intelligent and ingenious tinkerers, the French duo of Halory Goerger and Antoine Defoort present an unclassifiable experience that lies somewhere between installation art and theatre, science and fiction, serious thought and mischievous pranks. There is nothing cut-and-dried about this “cable and sword show”, no beginning or end. The chronology is left up to the spectator. Behind the seemingly flippant façade, however, these sly explorers of time and space propose real questioning about the future of humanity as we know it. In a casual, offhand manner, these two iconoclastic inventors invite the audience to think about our fantasies of modernity as they turn portrayal and presentation upside down, transporting us into a quirky, futuristic and interactive cabaret.

PRODUCED BY L’AMICALE DE PRODUCTION
CREATED AND PERFORMED BYANTOINE DEFOORT + HALORY GOERGER
PIANO IN LES GENIES DU FROIDINSTALLATION BELINDA ANNALORO
STAGE MANAGER THOMAS LEBLANC
SOUND MANAGER ROBIN MIGNOT
TECHNICAL SUPPORT FRANÇOIS BREUX + JEAN-MARC DELANNOY + ALICE DUSSART + NICOLAS GUICHARD / CECN
SET DESIGN ASSISTANT AND PHOTO JULIEN FOURNET

COPRODUCTION LE VIVAT (ARMENTIÈRES) + L’L (BRUSSELLS) + MAISON FOLIE DE MANÈGE.MONS + MAISON FOLIE WAZEMMES + CECN DE MANÈGE.MONS + TNT – MANUFACTURE DE CHAUSSURES (BORDEAUX)
WITH THE SUPPORT OF CONSEIL RÉGIONAL NORD-PAS-DE-CALAIS + MINISTÈRE DE LA CULTURE ET DE LA COMMUNICATION – DRAC NORD-PAS-DE-CALAIS + VILLE DE LILLE + LA MALTERIE (LILLE)

PRESENTED WITH THE SUPPORT OF SERVICE DE COOPÉRATION ET D’ACTION CULTURELLE DUCONSULAT GÉNÉRAL DE FRANCE À QUÉBEC

WRITTEN BY DIANE JEAN
TRANSLATED BY NEIL KROETSCH

PREMIERED AT FESTIVAL NOORDERZON, GRONINGEN, AUGUST 2009