Digital Programme: Antechamber (MimeLondon)

Stereoptik’s unique approach to theatre sees them creating the building blocks of an animated film in front of the audience’s eyes. Led by Romain Bermond and Jean-Baptiste Maillet, the French theatre company began its life in 2008 when the pair developed their first show, also titled Stereoptik.

They last performed at the Barbican in 2022 with their show Stellaire, a love story about the expansion of the universe.

Their approach to the festival, and the Barbican, has changed over the course of their visits. ‘The first time it was really new for us,’ says Maillet.

‘We did not know how the London audience [would] react, but it was a great success. The second time, it was a surprise because it was sold out before we [began]. So we are very happy… we are very happy to have an audience who want to see our new show.’

Described as ‘an animated film, a show and an exhibition all at the same time,’ the new show, Antechamber, is set in the type of small antechamber rooms that are common in France, particularly in Paris, where they are used by students. While working on a thesis in his antechamber, the protagonist of the piece finds a photograph of himself as a child.

‘In the photo, he is holding a butterfly,’ says Bermond, ‘and [it] reminds him of his capacity to see the world as a child [where] everything is new, everything is interesting.’

The discovery of the photograph gives him a new ability; he is able ‘to travel to countries in his mind and see the world around him.’ The antechamber of the title is the one in his head.

Maillet adds, ‘[As] an adult we have a lot of [responsibilities], a lot of work and [in] this life we cannot have a place for wonder… It’s what we lost when we [became] adults and we don’t know really why.’

This delicate tale of regaining and reclaiming a sense of wonder is told through the company’s uncomplicated and unassuming methods.

‘In a lot of our shows, we are making a kind of movie… a live movie with very simple things; paper, pen, pencil. To make poetry with some very simple things. And [Antechamber is] not really a story, it’s not “once upon a time…” – it’s more poetry. And our audience can have sensations: sometimes it’s fun, sometimes it’s more dark, but the story is not the most important thing,” says Maillet.

They have actively tried with Antechamber to progress their approach, says Bermond, using simpler and simpler techniques to garner the poetry of the story, and opening up the blocking on stage so that the audience can see more of what they are doing and the techniques they are using to create the animated film within the show.

‘It’s more simple than before, but it’s not less intense,’ says Bermond. ‘We try to give the audience the sensation that you can make something with nothing, or a few things. It’s not about technology, or [buying] something that allows you to make another thing, it’s about creativity and freedom. We try to keep that on the stage for the audience.’

They hope audiences see the show as ‘a poetry moment… away from the rest of the world, [away] from your life,’ says Maillet. ‘[Antechamber is] about creativity, it’s about love, it’s about nature… it talks about a lot of things. Everybody can make [their] own story with this show… You can imagine a lot of things.’

This piece is abridged from an interview conducted by Jim Keaveney in January 2024 for theartsdispatch.com and is reproduced with kind permission.

Stereoptik

Created in 2008 at the same time as the eponymous show, Stereoptik brings together Romain Bermond and Jean-Baptiste Maillet, both visual artists and musicians. Based on a score they build and write together, every one of their shows is built under the eyes of its audience, live. Theatre of shadows, of objects and puppets, silent films, unplugged or electronic concerts, fairy tales and cartoons are some of the many fields and genres whose boundaries Stereoptik likes to play with. At the heart of the many forms of art that appear on the stage is one principle: to show the audience the technical process that leads to the apparition of characters, of scenes, of a story. The audience is free to let themselves be carried away by the images and stories projected onto the screen, or to see in detail what leads to the movement of the cartoon on the screen, how ink creates a silhouette on a transparent background, what instrument is used to bring it to life. Visual, musical, and without text, Stereoptik’s creations arouse curiosity and wonder in audiences of all ages and nationalities. 

stereoptik.com

MimeLondon

MimeLondon is a new curatorial project created by Helen Lannaghan and Joseph Seelig, directors of London International Mime Festival (LIMF), which ended in 2023 after five decades of award-winning success. MimeLondon will support occasional seasons of contemporary visual theatre, in collaboration with different partner venues. 

For its first series in London, which runs from 12 January to 17 February 2024, the Barbican, the National Theatre, Sadler’s Wells and Shoreditch Town Hall are hosting eight productions new to London, the work of four overseas groups, and four UK-based companies co-commissioned by London International Mime Festival in its final year. A series of workshops organised in association with the London Academy of Music & Dramatic Art (LAMDA) and Shoreditch Town Hall is taking place during the same period.

mimelondon.com

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