Aurélien Bory is a physicist. However, his works have already appeared in Trafó many times (Plan B / 2006, IJK / 2008-ban, Erection / 2005, Taoub / 2007), the Hungarian presentation of this particular piece has been our long awaited dream (up until now we have been speculating if it fits in the auditorium at all). A mix-and-match of visual theatre, dance and circus.
Depending on your temper Sans objet is a fight, a competition or a game between human and technology. The presenters are not more than acting bodies. The protagonist is the industrial robot from the 70s. In his Frankenstein-dream Aurélien Bory adds soul to the object. He deprives the commercial machine of its function and recreates it in the purposeless field of performing art.
“With Sans objet I wanted to introduce on stage an industrial robot strong enough to move the scenery as well as the performers around. The machine becomes a fullyfledged protagonist. It is an articulated mechanical arm. It will be used as a “puppet” – a 100% technological being – in its dialogue with an ordinary contemporary man.” (Aurélien Bory)
“Sans Objet might just be theatre’s Terminator moment.” /Carousel of Fantasies, Matt Trueman/
“The human performers, Olivier Alenda and Olivier Boyer, are taut and disciplined, but that robot is the star of the show. It has amazing range and delicacy of movement: flowing and twisting, picking up and setting things down, pulling the floor from under its human partners' feet.” /The Independent, Zoë Anderson/
“The retrograde use of the masculine pronoun is significant. This is a story of domination and subordination, of closed-built worlds, queasy biopower and homoerotic fetishisation of the machine. The star of the show is an enormous, prehensile, phallic, steampunk articulated robotic arm - of the type you might find in an anime vision of a dark Satanic mill.” /Musicomh, Daniel B. Yates/
“What really struck me was the physical threat posed by this machine. It seemed capable of overpowering humanity in a way that we rarely, if ever, see on stage.” /Guardian, Matt Trueman/
“The strict, formal intelligence of director-mathematician Aurélien Bory gets another LIMF outing (after Plan B, More or Less Infinity and Les Sept Planches de la Ruse) with Sans Objet, a piece which puts two acrobats onstage with a giant mechanical arm that did heavy work building cars back in the 1970s. Anyone who saw Sept Planches will remember the exceptional mise en scène Bory can achieve with clean lines and the positioning and movement of non-organic, geometric shapes; robotics seems like an obvious next step. The press copy for Sans Objet also says it's a 'futurist fantasy' – which may make it the magic combination of circus and SF that Sideshow has so long been waiting for.” /Sideshow Circus Magazine/
With: Olivier ALENDA, Olivier BOYER
Conception, scenography and direction: Aurélien BORY
Robot operator and programmer: Tristan BAUDOIN
Original music: Joan CAMBON
Lighting design: Arno VEYRAT
Artistic collaboration: Pierre RIGAL
Director’s assistant: Sylvie MARCUCCI
Sound engineer: Joël ABRIAC
Set design and construction: Pierre DEQUIVRE
Screen accessories: Frédéric STOLL
Scenic painting: Isadora de RATULD
Masks: Guillermo FERNANDEZ
Technical direction: Arno VEYRAT
Administration, production and booking: Florence MEURISSE, Christelle LORDONNÉ
Production: Compagnie 111 - Aurélien Bory
Coproduction: TNT-Théâtre National de Toulouse Midi-Pyrénées, Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne E.T.E, Théâtre de la Ville- Paris, La Coursive-Scène nationale La Rochelle, Agora-Pôle national des arts du cirque de Boulazac, Le Parvis-Scène nationale Tarbes-Pyrénées
Compagnie 111 - Aurélien Bory receives the support of Fondation BNP Paribas for the development of its projects.
Compagnie 111 – Aurélien Bory is associate artist of Le Grand T, Scène conventionnée Loire Atlantique/Nantes
In Budapest with the support of Institut Français.
