With the support of the ‘Novi Sad 2021’ Foundation, French troupe ‘La Belle Meunière’ will open this year’s 45th Infant (International Festival of Alternative and New Theatre) at the Summer Scene of the Cultural Centre of Novi Sad on 25 June at 7 p.m.
‘Buffet à vif’ is a performance about destruction which shows the original need to crash and dismember things that hold you back. By representing deep violence and simultaneous relief at the in the act of liberation from things that burden us, cloud the horizon, the performance creates conditions for the new beginning. Raphaël Cottin, dancer and choreographer and Pierre Meunier, author, actor and director, are being violent to a cabinet. After the phase of destruction, it is time for repairs. Marguerite Bordat, stage designer and visual artist, creates work on the border between carpentry and archaeology from the debris remains, inviting the audience to join the performance.
The ‘Buffet à vif’ performance does not celebrate destruction – it is an invitation to approach things in a new way.
The performance was created within the ’Sujets à vif’ cycle, which is organised annually by the Society of Dramatic Authors and Composers of France and the Avignon Festival: they invite two artists who work with different artistic practices and do not know each other, to set up a small play which will be presented during the Avignon Festival.
Pierre Meunier founded the ‘La Belle Meunière’ in 1992, after acquiring considerable experience in the field of theatre, circus and film. He finds inspiration for his performances in meetings with scientists and philosophers. He has been setting plays in cooperation with Marguerite Bordat since 2012, who, contrary Meunier’s interests, brings her love towards construction and deconstruction of space into their poetic collision. This creative duo creates theatre forms that partially discover human destiny through flexibility of expression and pleasure in playing with the postulates of physics. Raphaël Cottin, dancer, choreographer and researcher of movement, develops his projects within the ’La Poétique des Signes’ troupe founded by Cottin himself.
The ‘Novi Sad 2021 – European Capital of Culture’ Foundation supported the ‘Buffet à vif’ performance within the INFANT 2018. This guest performance is organised with the support of the Teatroskop programme founded by the French Institute, Ministry of Culture in France and Ministry for European Affairs and Equality in France.
