Teaser
Presentation
Set to music composed by the group Chinese Man, this show unfolds like an action movie.
Taking its name from the clandestine bars found during American Prohibition in the 1930s, Speakeasy is strongly inspired by the combination of silent movies and hip-hop. The six artists of The Rat Pack explore the gangster film genre, and they hijack cinema techniques to passionately reinvent their own circus. Traditional circus disciplines disappear and give way to a joyful and stunning group performance based on the dynamics of body language and movement.
Beware, this is a wide-screen performance!
"We are the generation that saw the rise of the American TV series, we know the lines from Taxi Driver and Goodfellas... This cinema and this so-called ‘mainstream’ culture that we share inspires us. In this project, we have chosen to appropriate it, to question it, to have fun with it, using our tools as circus artists." – The Rat Pack
With
Anaelle Echalier: Aerial dancer, actor
Ann-Katrin Jornot: Aerial acrobat, tightrope walker
Andrea Catozzi: Acrobat, actor, dancer
Guillaume Juncar: Cyr wheel, acrobat
Xavier Lavabre: acrobat, catcher
Vincent Maggioni: Chinese pole, acrobat
Staging The Rat Pack company and Régis Truchy
Music Chinese Man, arranged by Supa-Jay (Scratch Bandits Crew)
Acrobatic oversight Thomas Ferraguti
Light design Elsa Revol
Scenography Claire Jouë Pastré
Costume design Nadia Léon
Production and distribution Peggy Donck
Production Rouge Production
Production support and residency support Cirque-Théâtre d'Elbeuf national circus arts center / Le Sirque national circus arts center in Nexon / Le Manège national theater in Reims / Le Carré Magique national circus arts center in Lannion
Residencies La Brèche national circus arts center in Cherbourg-Octeville / Theater op de Markt in Dommelhof-Neerpelt, Belgium / Furies national circus arts center (early stage) in Châlons-en-Champagne / ENACR national circus school in Rosny-sous-Bois
With the support of the DRAC contemporary art archive in Champagne Ardenne and Spedidam.
"Speakeasy reinvents the circus arts."
– Le Figaro
"Feels like being in a gangster movie."
– TSF Jazz
"An intrigue with never-ending twists and turns."
– Le Canard Enchaîné
Peggy Donck and Xavier Lavabre met at the Compagnie XY while working on the show Il n’est pas encore minuit… They are reflecting on the traditional methods used to create circus shows and envision a new form of circus writing that can cross frontiers by combining the genesis of the circus gesture, choreographed movement, the senses, and musicality.
The Rat Pack was born from this vision in 2014.