Teaser
Presentation
What would become of our world if even angels could no longer fly?
In a controlled microcosm, machines – the demigods of this world – end up playing the role of organic artifacts. A group of individuals, survivors of a shattered world that exists in a silent, sunless world, look at each other without seeing and cling to life. There is a speck of light within this silent mechanism: a character unknowingly searches for the hope buried in each of us...
More than characters, these women and men are symbols. They carry within them, in their free will, the love and beauty of letting go, the strength that each of us has to change things.
In a tragi-comic tone and tracing a poignant universe, this performance evokes the allegory of the cave and deals with current issues related to our society and our humanity.
A dystopian tale set at the crossroads of circus, dance, theater, and cinema, La Chute des anges [When Angels Fall] is a reflection of our civilization because talking about the future is the best way to talk about the present.
What if nothing is irrevocable?
Direction and choreography Raphaëlle Boitel
Artistic collaborator, scenography, lighting Tristan Baudoin
Original muisc Arthur Bison
Costumes Lilou Hérin
Rigging, stage machines for choreography Nicolas Lourdelle
Sound design Arthur Bison
With Alba Faivre, Clara Henry, Loïc Leviel, Emily Zuckerman, Lilou Hérin, Tristan Baudoin, Nicolas Lourdelle
Production L’Oublié(e) – Raphaëlle Boitel
Coproduction OARA artistic office for the Region Nouvelle-Aquitaine / L'Agora national circus center for Boulazac Aquitaine / Le Grand-T, theater in Loire-Atlantique / Peak Performances in Montclair (USA) / the 2 Pôles Cirque platform in Normandie – La Brèche in Cherbourg & Cirque Théâtre d’Elbeuf / Le Carré Magique national circus center for Brittany in Lannion / Le Grand R national theater in La Roche-sur-Yon / Carré Colonnes national theater for St-Médard-en-Jalles and Blanquefort / Relais Culturel d’Argentan / Les 3T national theater in Châtellerault / Théâtre de Strasbourg
The L’Oublié(e) company and Raphaëlle Boitel are supported by the L'Agora national circus center for Boulazac Aquitaine. The project is also supported by the Ministry of Culture through the DRAC artistic agency for Nouvelle-Aquitaine, as well as the City of Boulazac Isle Manoire, Departmental Council of Dordogne, and the Region Nouvelle-Aquitaine.
"Raphaëlle Boitel’s stark and stunning When Angels Fall [is] a blend of circus and dance set in a mechanized dystopia whose inhabitants yearn for human connection... But it’s in stillness that Ms. Boitel finds the power to break our hearts."
– The New York Times
"Raphaëlle Boitel creates an original and poetic language of movement... A dystopia-like performance that questions human nature and its capacity for resilience."
– La Terrasse
Created in 2012, the L’Oublié(e) company is led by the director and choreographer Raphaëlle Boitel. She has created a physical language to define visual universes that encompass all three dimensions of the stage and address all audiences. This approach mixes different artistic disciplines, including theater, circus, dance, music, and cinema. It results in chiseled works of light where the metaphorical writing summons the tragic and the comic. The creation of new equipment, particularly for the aerial arts, renews traditional disciplines.
The L’Oublié(e) company is formed around a team of creators: Tristan Baudoin (scenography, lighting), Arthur Bison (music), Nicolas Lourdelle (machinery, sets), and Liliane Hérin (costumes). The company’s repertoire includes Consolations (2013), The Forgotten (2014), Fierce 5 (2015), The Black Beast (2017), When Angels Fall (2018), Horizon (2019), and One Versus One (2020).
Raphaëlle Boitel also works as a choreographer for the opera.