top of page

The child hidden in the inkwell

Ellj spent his long vacation in the castle of his father, a great admiral still absent. One day he hears the voice of a little unknown sister hidden in an inkwell and asks her to deliver it. Ellj then drops the moorings. The plateau becomes a raft, a desert island, an ice-field, a continent where storms rise and die suns. And suddenly a little flute telling of Ellj's expectation and boredom during the sleep of Annj, the little Inuit girl, in her child-coffin-pendulum-canoe bed.

 

Text & direction Joël Jouanneau

Assistant to the direction, scenography and costumes Vincent Debats

lights Thomas Cottreau, sound universe Samuel Favart

with Dominique Richard

 

Creation at the Théâtre au Jeu de Paume in Aix en Provence in October 2016, tour in France 2016-2019 (Théâtre le la Ville Paris, Early-Theater Quimper, Sète Theater, Trio Inzinzac Lochrist Theater, Athénor Saint Nazaire, of Cavaillon, TNT Toulouse ....

Creative Process

 

"There are magical productions, it's the latest and one of the most beautiful."

 

Joël Jouanneau was a great pleasure to share. The team was in unison, hosting the theater of the Jeu de Paume, from the plateau to the production of a rare benevolence.

 

The show continues its life again this year and we hope next year too. I share here the process of creating the first sketches until the successful show. It was a beautiful moment shared. "

First sketches

 

"For two years we read the text more and more in space, until Joel joined us.

 

What could be the space of this text?

 

The will of Joel was to start from the concrete to open the imaginary. It is a space where time is stopped. We are in an attic at the beginning, then Ellj, begins his imaginary epic, taking the little canoe to the sea, then the island, the cloud boat, the distant country, the city, the raft, finally return to the attic. At first I proposed an attic that could be transformed, but this was too "heavy", so we considered a single place, a kind of attic, sea, distant country-ice pack ... It is the light , The sound, the changes of costumes, which evoke them, in turn, during the performance.

 

I feel extremely free with Joel, it gives you a precise framework, in which you can, must, propose what you want, it is your responsibility. Then he composes with all that his collaborators have given him (light, sound, space ...) to achieve the overall form of the show.

 

It is a strange impression to have proposed something very singular, each in his own domain, and at the same time to serve a globality that totally escapes you. "

Construction, assembly, last rehearsals, first, tour ...

 

"After the construction of the decoration (thank you Philippe Guilloux and all his team for the wonderful work) it is the montage on the set and the last rehearsals. It is often said that we miss a good week, to culminate a show and it does not matter how many days of rehearsals upstream the last few days are crucial, it's alchemy or not.

 

For this show, not really, we were all ready in time. Sometimes they were guilty of having realized all this so easily and quickly. It was a magical moment. Finally it can be offered to the public, and the actor goes, from representations in representations in contact with the public, to find its form completely culminated. It is a spectacle that I never tire of seeing again.

 

Then it's the tour, we follow Joel and I from time to time, but it is the two managers Jean-François and Philippe who technically assure it. Thanks to them. Thanks also to the superb teams of theaters.

 

We were fortunate enough to make some forty dates, which is unfortunately not always the case. The average performance in France of a show is 7 or 8 dates! And this number is steadily decreasing from year to year ... And then it is the theater economy young audience, a skin of grief, despite the will of courageous producers. Yet it is exactly the same work, the same requirement as the Adult Theater only. "

bottom of page