On the road to Ici là-bas

The European production Ici là-bas at the Célestins, Theatre of Lyon, is the result of a search and training approach held in the town of Istanbul and Diyarbakir (Turkey), Krakow (Poland), Rouen, Cherbourg, Rillieux-la-Pape and Lyon (France), within the project “L’Europe commence ici ou là-bas”, “Europe starts here or there”

In the spring 2008, Image Aiguë held workshops for drama search and training in Krakow in partnership with one of the oldest and biggest festivals in Poland: The Reminiscencje Festival. These workshops based on the original stage techniques of the Company, have taken place in schools (especially in the district of Biezanow) and in the social structures of Krakow. These workshops put together on stage children, adults and musicians, for the production of the “Impromptus”, a stage performance using a mix of theatre, dance and music that shows stories of “cohabitation” and tells with humour about the difficulties to mix with someone else, to accept his gestures, his vocabulary and his attitudes.

This approach was simultaneously experienced in the town of Istanbul, Diyarbakir (Turkey) and Lyon with public presentations in the cultural centre Sanat Merkezi of Diyarbakir, and at the university Bilgi in Istanbul, from December till June 2007, within the “Cheminement théâtral d’Image Aiguë à Istanbul, Diyarbakir et Lyon”/ “The progression of Image Aiguë’s  theatrical approach  in Istanbul, Diyarbakir and Lyon”.

Last spring, school and after-school workshops took also place in Cherbourg and Rouen, leading to a new version of the “Impromptus”.  Thanks to the international workshops during the months of July and August 2008, participants of the workshops coming from the three countries crossed and named above, were able to meet and elaborate, under the direction of Christiane Véricel, a theatrical approach that gave birth to the performance Ici là-bas.

“An abounding performance, rich with colours and rhythms: a pure pleasure! (…) [That] shows the communication problems, the difficulty to live together in a very tiny place, the rivalries and conflicts between individuals, but also the possibility to reunite beings that everything apparently opposes.”

Forum Lyon, "A soul ... up The stage, the playf...