La Dyane

Sitting Duck

TRAILER

TECHNICAL RIDER

A dreamlike, satirical, and "epic" saga / Clown and Street Theater

 

CREATION 2024

 

Three traveling companions with a broken-down old car will take us on a distant journey overflowing with phantasmagorical adventures, emotions, laughter and improbable adventures.

A six-meter ladder on the roof of a car, wind at 300 km per hour, a landscape suddenly covered in mist, a flooded car, a pulley, a football match, a shipwreck in the middle of town…

They are at that precise moment in their existence where everything stops. Both feet suddenly glued to the ground, they wait for something that could indicate a direction, give meaning. They are waiting, each in their own way, for a sign of fate…

And then reality invites itself to the table, unvarnished and without pomp, but with this amplitude always greater than the words within our reach.

So they can say that they walked on earth, that it was good ; that they didn’t understand much, but it was good.

Company

Sitting Duck is a Belgian Circus & Street theatre company created in 2016 by Gonzalo Alarcón, from Hopla Circus, and Joris Verbeeren, from Shake That. They play with juggling, slapstick, accidents and object manipulation as the source for comic material.
Their first creation, Chiringuito Paradise, directed by Christine Rossignol, has been performed more than 200 times so far in 9 different countries, and launched Sitting Duck on the international circuit. It draws inspiration from the physical comedy and the surprising clumsiness of the most famous Clowns of the big screen (B. Keaton, C. Chaplin, P. Sellers…), but equally from the simplicity and the depth of a dramaturgy, which calls upon universal characters. This principle has pushed Sitting Duck to develop a comical language that can be close to that of slapstick comedy, but which at the same time meets the requirements of a street show. The company approaches slapstick as a series of unattractive and hilarious micro situations, inserted in a scenario focused on chaos and failure. The exploit plays also an important role in the show. Falls, accidents, juggling and object manipulation add a spectacular touch to the performance.
For La Dyane, the company wants to expand the troupe and open up to collective creative possibilities. This is why we have invited actors and circus artists Andrea Bettaglio and Nicoló Antioco Ximenes, musicians Marije Nie and Jonas De Rave and director Christine Rossignol-Dallaire to join us in this adventure.

Credits

By and with : Gonzalo Alarcón, Andrea Bettaglio & Nicoló Antioco Ximenes
Directed by : Christine Rossignol-Dallaire
Bricolage and development of the scenography : In collaboration with Joris Janssens De Machinerie/Cirque Mécanique
Musical composition and sound environment : Marije Nie & Jonas De Rave
Technical director : Jan Haegens
Production : Veera Kaukoranta
Coproduction : Centre culturel du Brabant wallon CCBW
With the support of : Centre culturel René Magritte, La Roseraie, UP – Circus and Performing Arts, CAR Ath ; Wallonie-Bruxelles Théâtre-Danse WBTD

 

Photo credits : Bernard Boccara / UP – Circus & Performing Arts _ Mathilde Schockaert