How far

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how far
CREATION 2024

How far travels between several languages, several countries, and works on the superimposition of landscapes and eras.

Suzanne roule sur l’autoroute au volant d’un vieux break Peugeot en banlieue d’une grande ville. Dans une station service fermée et déserte, elle rencontre Amadi, jeune réalisateur nigérian venu explorer les archives françaises pour un documentaire sur la guerre du Biafra. Entre réalité et fiction, ils essaient de voyager dans la mémoire de l’un et de l’autre.

DISPOSITIF
How far means "hello how are you" in Nigerian pidgin or "how far distance-wise" in British English. And it is distance that this text deals with, the periphery, and living together. Laure Bachelier-Mazon's text works on rhythms, sounds, the blend of languages, history and current events. It is a question of working on an appropriation of the past and the present, of the language of the other. Opening a space for encounters. Blurring geographies. Combining languages, French, English, Pidgin.
I am thinking of a set design based on recycled materials, which have been transformed from their original use, like the service station where Suzanne and Amadi meet in the text. The 504, which is also a character, will be described in snippets, like the remains of a dream - a steering wheel in the middle of the vegetation. Especially as the imaginary of the text considers the subject of fluctuating memories and their reconstruction and questions the economic relationship between the north and the south. We plan to deal with the metamorphoses of space contained in the text and its fantastic dimension by means of a light scenographic device - the dramaturgy will be structured by the light and the relationship to the music.

PRODUCTION
Production day-for-night
Partners Compagnie Feugham and the La’akam (Bafoussam, Cameroun), festival Univers des mots (Conakry, Guinée), Arojah Royal Theatre (Abuja, Nigeria)
Coproduction GRRRANIT Scène nationale of Belfort, Centre dramatique national Besançon Franche-Comté 
With the support of le 
Colombier –  Bagnolet, Théâtre Public de Montreuil – Centre dramatique national, résidence de création au Grand Parquet, maison d’artistes du Théâtre Paris-Villette, Institut français de Paris, CITF

Thanks to Morgane Barbry, Iry Armand Bogbé, Bountouraby Camara, Sira Conde, Malê Swê Camara, Mohamed Diané, Alexandre Prince

day-for-night is subsidised by the DRAC Bourgogne Franche-Comté and by the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region. The company is supported in its projects by the Departmental Council of Doubs and the City of Besançon. The company have a DGCA mentoring network with Louise Legendre and May Hilaire.

© Christophe Raynaud de Lage

CAST 
Direction Anne Monfort
Texte & collaboration artistique Laure Bachelier-Mazon
With Pearl Manifold (actress) Marion Sicre (lyric singer) Brigitte Tsafack (actress) Heza Botto (comédien)
Composer Roque Rivas 
Composer and sound designer Eve Ganot, en collaboration avec Colline Ménard
Traduction en anglais et regard extérieur May Hilaire
Light design and technical management Cécile Robin
Régie lumières Boris Van Overtveldt
Set design Djamounougbè Beavogui, Mohamed Diané
Set construction France Loïc Bernardo, Adèle Collé 
Costume design France Marine Gressier
Administration and production Yohan Rantswiler
Production and booking Florence Francisco and Gabrielle Baille – Les Productions de la Seine
Press relations Olivier Saksik – Elektronlibre

PERFORMANCE DATES
November 2024 | Creation in Nigeria
Arojah Royal Theatre, Abuja (Nigéria)
Du 21 au 28 février 2024 | Création Cameroun 
Le La’akam, Baffoussam (Cameroun)
From 13th to 15th February 2024 
Centre dramatique national de Besançon Franche-Comté
From 6th to 10th February 2024
Le Colombier – Bagnolet
12th January 2024 | Creation in France
Le GRRRANIT, Scène nationale Belfort
31st October and 1st November 2023 | Creation in Guinea
Festival Univers des mots, Conakry (Guinea)

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