In this immersive show, which invents a playful form of theatre, and in a nod to the Grand Palais restoration site a few hundred metres away, Stefan Kaegi invites us to look at construction sites as microcosms that distil all the paradoxes of contemporary society. The never-ending works at Berlin airport, the interminable A3 motorway project in Italy, the imbroglios surrounding the future Lyon-Turin tunnel, the football stadiums in Qatar, the immense cultural complexes in Asia... More broadly, these gigantic construction projects shed light on the workings of society, in which there are always multiple parties involved, their connections sometimes invisible, their interests often divergent. Based on testimonies and an in-depth documentary survey, Société en chantier invited spectators, gathered in small groups, to move around a wing of the Grand Palais Éphémère transformed into a vast construction site, with huts and observation platforms, crane and scaffolding, tarpaulins and piles of materials. This immersion in the intertwined network of international investors, entrepreneurs, public decision-makers, specialists and site workers invited us to question what determines contemporary common space when it is only partially controlled by states and is at the centre of contradictory private interests. Swiss artist Stefan Kaegi is one of the leading figures in European theatre. With the Rimini Protokoll collective, which he co-founded with Helgard Haug and Daniel Wetzel, he has helped to expand the notion of documentary theatre by attempting to portray reality in all its facets and by calling on the help of everyday experts . Rimini Protokoll draws its themes from reality. Société en chantier was co-produced by the Théâtre Vidy - Lausanne, Rimini Apparat, La Villette, the Rmn Grand Palais, Paris l été Festival - Bonlieu, Scène nationale Annecy - Malraux, Scène nationale Chambéry Savoie - Fonds de dotation du Quartz (Brest) - Scène nationale d Albi - Festival de Marseille - Edinburgh International Festival, and with the support of FVE (Fédération Vaudoise des Entrepreneurs) - Fondation Casino Barrière de Montreux - Vivi Kola. This show was supported by the PEPS project as part of the Interreg V France- Suisse European programme for territorial cooperation.
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