L'Addition

Two performers come onstage to attempt to play a scene, or rather "the scene”: a customer orders a drink from a waiter. And then things go awry. Played again and again, with nonstop dialogue or in absolute silence, “the scene” starts spinning out of control. Nightmarish spiral or grotesque farce? Roles and relationships of power flip back and forth, to the point that we no longer know who’s the victim and who’s the bully, who's serving and who's being served. Backstage, British director and Forced Entertainment artistic director Tim Etchells orchestrates a hilarious and explosive performance, brilliantly executed by duo Bert & Nasi. Together, the three of them play with the mechanisms of theatre as much as with power relationships—but in the end, someone has to pay the bill. With its repetitions and reversals, its moments of rehearsed improvisation, its precise writing, and its mastery of the slapstick, the story takes us on a wild ride, changing, playful, and fierce. Constantly navigating between registers and genres, it opens onto an infinite variety of possibilites, reflected in the many venues this travelling show will visit.

Interview with Tim Etchells

Performed and created in collaboration with Bertrand Lesca, Nasi Voutsas
Design, text and direction Tim Etchells
Translation Aurélie Cotillard
Music Graeme Miller
Set design Richard Lowdon
Lighting Alex Fernandes
Assistant directors Edward Fortes, Nicki Hobday

Production Festival d'Avignon
Coproduction Grrranit Scène nationale de Belfort, Centre culturel André Malraux, Scène nationale de Vandoeuvre-lès-Nancy, Théâtre de la Manufacture CDN Nancy Lorraine, CCAS les activités sociales de l'énergie, le Théâtre Silvia Monfort (Paris), La Vignette Scène conventionnée Université Paul-Valéry (Montpellier), Théâtre du Bois de l'Aune (Aix-en-Provence), Théâtre de Choisy-le-Roi Scène conventionnée d’intérêt national art et création pour la diversité linguistique, Théâtre Alibi (Bastia), The Coronet Theatre (London) (in progress)
With the support of British Council for the 7th edition of the Festival d'Avignon
Residencies Centre social Espace Pluriel-salle de la Barbière (Avignon), The Coronet Theatre (London), Battersea Arts Centre (London), Toynbee Studios (London)

Performances in partnership with France Bleu Vaucluse