PETITES HISTOIRES DE CIRQUE – LE CIRQUE DANS LES ÉTOILES
SHOW IN A BIG TENT
Circus, object theater and puppets
ARTISTIC TEAM / PRODUCTION
Burlesque: Bruno West
Puppeteer: Véronique Calderari
Juggler diabolist: Jonas Thomas
Guitar, accordion, percussion, chimes: Gabriel Westphal
Double bass, guitar, mandolin: Arthur Henn
Conception and direction: Véronique Calderari and Bruno West
Music and sound design: Gabriel Westphal
Lighting design: Le Cirque dans les Étoiles
Set and props, design and construction: Bruno West
Puppet construction: Marie-Laure Breton and Lydia Sevette
Technicians: Bogomil
Production: Le Cirque dans les Étoiles
THE COMPANY
Le Cirque dans les Étoiles is a company based on the outskirts of Paris, occupying a space somewhere between circus, fairground theatre, juggling and object theatre. Run by Bruno West and Véronique Calderari, the company - originally called le Cirque du Grand Céleste - has been going strong for 40 years and is one of the precursors of a new art-form now known as New Circus.
THE SHOW
Petites Histoires de Cirque (NDLR: Little Tales from the Circus) invites the spectator into a world both poetic and intimate, where different characters meet, all inspired by old-fashioned circus roles. Five artists share the limelight, including two multi-instrument musicians in an ever-shifting instrumental formation (percussion, double-bass, guitars, accordion, mandolin, glockenspiel…)
A FEW WORDS ABOUT THE PERFORMANCE:
“Taking my inspiration from the grand masters of film music (notably the composer Nino Rota, working in partnership with the director Federico Fellini) and looking for a musical genre that would best match this imaginary world, I turned towards an intimate minimalist style, reminiscent on occasion of gypsy jazz or old-fashioned songs. The melody, as the central idea, works as the thread running through the improvisation, always serving the visuals, punctuating the actions of the characters in the show.
The music both shares the stage and has a hand in the creation of the performance. Both inspiring and as an inspiration, the music walks side-by-side with the visual creation, an integral part of the world of Le Cirque des Étoiles.”
“ As the performances went by - over 100 shows since 2013 - so a new idea began to make itself known: the desire to have these “Little Tales" exist in their own right, in a separate medium from the circus that brought them into the world.
There followed a period of re-arrangement, a quest to find new sound textures as well as development of the instrumentation (banjo, percussion, typewriter, music boxes, piano, marimba, xylophone …) that culminated in the album Petites Histoires. ”
PETITES HISTOIRES
GABRIEL WESTPHAL
Accordéon, choeurs : Eric Allard-Jacquin
Guitares, banjo, choeurs : Antoine Laudière
Contrebasse, mandoline, choeurs : Arthur Henn
Batterie, percussions, instruments additionnels, choeurs, compositions, arrangements : Gabriel Westphal
Enregistré par Terence Briand et Pierre-Emmanuel Meriaud au studio Nyima en 2018
Mixé par Terence Briand et Gabriel Westphal
Masterisé par Raphaël Jonin
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