THE WORLD’S EDGE’S LITTLE THEATRE – OPUS II. Théâtre de la Massue (France)

An immersive experience combining a puppet show, modular installation, and scenography for audiences 16+

 Conception and scenography: Ézéquiel Garcia-Romeu
Dramaturgy and advising: Laurent Caillon
Puppets: Ézéquiel Garcia-Romeu, Martine Le Saout, Iroslav Petkov
Stage management: Thierry Hett
Soundcreation: Stéphane Morisse
Original music composition: René Koering
Acting and puppeteering: Thierry Hett, Alicia Malialin, Roxane Merten-Pallanca, Iroslav Petkov, Inbal Yomtovian
Apprentices: Ana Almeida, Odila Artru, Célia Hue
Photos by: Juliana Dubovska and Lara Montagnac

Premiere: autumn 2015

 ‘The World’s Edge’s Little Theatre’ (fr.: ‘Le Petit Théâtre du Bout du Monde’) – this title evocating far away countries speaks about our contemporary world and refers to a universal place of creation, right here in the midst of our utopia of building a better world, right here at the end of a dream, amidst our renunciations. We make it the generic name for a larger theatrical experience which associates a team and a company around an artistic search that we would want to be permanent and shared with the audience. 

An allegory of an overexploited world, a poetic and theatrical performance, Le Petit Théâtre du Bout du Monde goes beyond the frontiers of space and time. As an artist of the infinitesimal, Ézéquiel Garcia-Romeu is a creator who reveals a world out of the ordinary, in a precarious equilibrium between the beauty and brutality of matter. Here, from the outset, the Théâtre de la Massue breaks out of the mold and invites us to directly build a territory in interaction with its audience. On stage emerges a misty and uneven landscape which progressively evolves and becomes populated by puppets with sculpted faces. Here and there, these little beings get busy doing strange, sometimes absurd, tasks and participate with great care to a brilliant little machinery, immersed in this crafted universe made of wood, salvaged objects and twines. Throughout the performance, paths of hope appear amidst this emotional metaphor of our human condition. With Le Petit Théâtre du Bout du Monde, Ézéquiel Garcia-Romeu deploys a stunning emotional force whose amazing echo with current events embraces and strikes us. 

Ézéquiel Garcia-Romeu, artistic director of Théâtre de la Massue, is an inventor of worlds; director and set designer, based at 109, the Contemporary Culture Center in Nice (France). He explores contemporary forms of puppetry and new stage writing. His works are conceived as a paradigm within a creative theatrical laboratory. 

His shows have been programmed at the Théâtre National de Chaillot, the Odéon, the Théâtre de la Commune, the Auditorium du Musée d’Orsay, the Festival in d’Avignon, the Berliner Festspiele, and numerous festivals and stages around the world, which he continues to visit, such as FIBA (Buenos-Aires,) or Santiago a Mil (Chile) and at the FMTM in Charleville.