UNDERWORLD

Enter the UNDERWORLD of plastic artist and director Théo Mercier. Through three rooms in the basement of the Collection Lambert turned into hermetic dune landscapes, the artist will guide you to the auditorium for a speculative odyssey. There, sand-matter has invaded and altered everything. You are welcomed by a child, who will be your guide and narrator in this post-apocalyptic world. Is he his own creation, or a mirage? As you make your way through the rooms that make up this living landscape, four performers playing the prosthesis-family of this child demiurge will call to you. But is that the call of the deep blue sea, or the call of the black depths of space? A sensorial fiction which aims to alter our perception while telling us a strange story. Théo Mercier confirms with UNDERWORLD his unique place in the world of contemporary art and the performing arts. As the author of an artistic world at once sensitive and unsettling, he questions the certainties of our senses, the soundness of our points of view, the truth of our impressions. His world of sand, with its unique performances, will leave its mark within us long after it has disappeared.

With Marie de Corte, Lucie Debay, Grégoire Schaller, Rebeka Warrior
In alternation with Melvil Fichou Petit, Paul Allain

Conception, direction and exhibition Théo Mercier in collaboration with the performers
Dramaturgy Jonathan Drillet
Choreography Steven Michel
Lights Victor Burel, Paolo Gérard et Théo Mercier
Music and sound Pierre Desprats, Rebeka Warrior
Sound Vanessa Court
Sand sculptures Enguerrand David et Mariëlle Heessels
Costumes Colombe Lauriot Prévost

Stage general management François Boulet
Assistants for the manufacture of works and accessories Célia Boulesteix, Rémi Gaubert and Robinson Guillermet
Studio manager artistic advice Céline Peychet (Studio Théo Mercier)
Production and diffusion Alix Sarrade, Camille Queval (Alma Office)

Production Compagnie Good World, Studio Théo Mercier
Co-production Collection Lambert en Avignon, Festival d’Avignon, Bonlieu Scène nationale Annecy, Ballet national de Marseille (studio reception), Théâtre national de Bretagne
With the support of the Fondation d'entreprise Hermès as part of its New Settings programme