Happy Birthday

After training at the Conservatoire National d'Art Dramatique, in 1993 Claire Lasne decided to opt for a career as a director. She began with the texts of Mohamed Rouabhi, but also those of Chekov, in order to present a “silent revolt” which she has continued to explore. In order to take back theatre to places where it no longer existed, notably in rural areas, Claire Lasne reinvents rigourous folk art under a travelling tent, as part of the work of the Centre Dramatique Poitou-Charentes which she co-directs with Laurent Darcueil. In 2002, the company performed Dom Juan and The Wood Demon at the Avignon Festival. She is back this year with her tent, for a whole month at Rasteau, a village at the foot of the Dentelles de Montmirail.

Joyeux Anniversaire (Happy Birthday)

A family circle where friends and relatives meet on the merry-go-round of life. Just like in childhood dreams which people our common recollections, we see brown bears dancing the saraband to the music of a pianola and strange diving penguins. It's a birthday celebration, but it's been going on for the past thirty years which have shaped our history, our social and family memory. From 1969 to the present day, a family lives and vibrates with the noises of news stories, uniting and tearing each other apart to the sound of music composed for the piece by Alexandros Markeas and with the ordinary things of life - the emotion of the Apollo space mission, the movements of 1968, the Yom Kippur War, the bomb attack on a Parisian department store, Chernobyl, the Berlin Wall and the Gulf War. With the light tack and obviousness of Sempé's cartoons which have inspired this production, Claire Lasne has chosen the enchantment of disguise, the evocative force of sound archives and pop culture to tell of the joys and pains of contemporary history. With the power of stage craft that prefers alternative modes of language such as music, sign language and dance to spoken words, this piece of personal and collective memory revives the scorching sensation of a time affected by AIDS and of the triumph of money. “People dine, that's all they do, dine, and all the while their destiny is being constructed”: with this remark of Chekhov's and under a tent, Claire Lasne calls on the audience to remember, to dream of and to disobey misfortune.

conception and direction : Claire Lasne
choreography : Caroline Marcadé
original music : Alexandros Markeas
music director : Philippe Nahon
cast : Silvia Cordonnier, Dominique Guihard, Gérard Hardy, Anne Klippstiehl, Éric Lamberger, Pierre Louis-Calixte, Richard Sammut, Aymeri Suarez-Pazos, Romans Suarez-Pazos, Thibault Suarez-Pazos, Alain Tresallet, Sabine Zerdoum, Laurent Ziserman
sets and dramaturg : Nicolas Fleury
video : Éric Watt
lighting : William Lambert
sound : Antoine Imbert, Thomas Sillard
costumes : Sophie Schaal
circus training : Lionel Lejeune
singing training : Céline Brault-Castaño
historic councellor : Sophie Lasne
translation into french sign language : Sophie Hirschi

coproduction : Centre dramatique Poitou-Charentes, Ars Nova - Ensemble instrumental, le Théâtre - Scène nationale de Poitiers
avec le soutien : de la Spedidam, de la Région Poitou-Charentes, du ministère de la Culture et de la Communication (aide à l'écriture)
en partenariat avec : l'INA, France Culture et l'École du cirque de Châtellerault
avec l'aide : du CLAEP, du village de Rasteau et du Conseil général de Vauclus