Welcome to a black-and-white circus!

“Ladies and gentlemen, the show is about to begin! Come, come and be miserable!” is the invitation and motto of Dark Circus, where a singular master of ceremonies invites the inhabitants of a gloomy town to watch a strange, dark and miserable circus, where one catastrophe follows another in its acts: the trapeze artists fall, the tamer is devoured by his untameable beast, and the human cannonball vanishes into space forever… but fear not, everything will change when a clumsy juggler appears, breathing new colour and life into the circus tent…

Dark Circus is an anthology production by the Stereoptik company, which captivated audiences at FIMFA Lx25 with Antichambre, which premiered to great acclaim at the 2015 Avignon Festival. Behind this evocation of the origins of the circus lies Pef, a well-known comic book author and creator of Prince de Motordu. His collaboration with Stereoptik has resulted in a live-action animated film, where the set comes to life before our very eyes, accompanied by live music, puppets, animated objects, and drawings in ink or sand.
A bewildering show, straddling the boundary between visual arts, puppetry and video, suitable for the whole family. A story masterfully staged by two true ‘alchemists’ who manage to create a unique visual and auditory universe, one that is particularly well-suited to filling us with wonder.

“(…) If the circus is sombre, the tone is not. On the contrary, everything is told with great humour and poetry, through the combined power of music and imagery. A paradoxical humour in light of the motto ‘Come, come and be unhappy’.
The drawings in black ink, more or less diluted, resemble photographs, thanks to the play of light and contrast. The various techniques used on stage create images of extraordinary beauty and inventiveness. In this case, the visual magic of the theatre revives the childlike wonder of the circus. Before our eyes, an urban landscape of buildings and streets transforms into a tent filled with a crowd of onlookers. The light, coming from above, transforms a percussion ensemble into a ring to welcome the stars; the neck of a guitar becomes a stern tamer of beasts. A few strokes of an eraser and a wild horse is set free from the ring, spreading poetry.” – Maïa Bouteillet

“Miraculous! Wonderful! Enchanting! Magical! Fascinating! (…). Young and old alike could not find words strong enough to express their delight (…). The show is a gem (…).
If we had to describe their art, we might say they make cinema without film. They create live animated films, which are projected onto a large screen (…).
It takes a great deal of imagination and ingenuity to bring this animation to life for an hour, without a break, with metamorphoses of shapes and objects, and fluid transitions between images that are magically drawn as the action unfolds (…).
The show consists of these constantly transforming images, but also of the work of the two artists. The illustrator, the one-man band, and his gestures that reveal strange shapes on the screen. Everything is beautiful and clever. We’ll say no more. But you’re in for a surprise!”
– Armelle Heliot, Le Figaro

“Three chords on an electric guitar, and an image begins to take shape on the screen at the back of the stage. A few lines, dots, and a small tent appears, in the middle of a city (…). Thus begins Dark Circus, by Stereoptik (…). It is entertaining, of course, this celebration of failure, which does not have the same consequences as a ‘real’ circus. But that is not all. We experience a thoroughly childlike delight in watching the two men create their little universe live, and in observing the dialogue between the manipulations they perform and the result, recorded live by small cameras and projected onto the screen (…).
A universe that possesses the beauty of black and white (…), in which colour suddenly explodes and invades the screen (…).”
– Fabienne Darge, Le Monde

“(…) At the crossroads of silent cinema and object theatre, Dark Circus leaves us in awe (…).
‘Do inanimate objects have a soul?’ wondered Lamartine. Under the hands of Romain Bermond and Jean-Baptiste Mallet of the Stereoptik company, there is no doubt that the objects placed on stage – a guitar, a piece of coal or cardboard characters – lead a lively and exciting life! The theatre of the Stereoptik company is unlike any other. Their art lies, in fact, at the crossroads of shadow theatre, silent cinema and music. Visual artists and musicians, the two partners create, before our very eyes, a hand-made film, using the simplest of means and a great deal of creativity. Using traditional resources—charcoal, chalk, sand and hand cranks—they create an animated film projected onto the big screen right before our eyes, whilst also performing the show’s music. (…) Just like in fairy tales, this Dark Circus is harsh and cruel right up until the final twist. Don’t worry, all’s well that ends well.”
– Marie-Ève Barbier, La Provence.com

“Stereoptik puts its clever and ingenious techniques at the service of poetry, and we are struck by its skill.”
– Ouest France

“A little gem (…) It is both deeply poetic and contemporary.”
– Amelie Blaustein Niddam, Toute la culture

BIO
The group Stereoptick was formed in 2008, when they created their first show of the same name. It consists of Romain Bermond and Jean-Baptiste Maillet, visual artists and musicians. Each of their shows is constructed live, in full view of the audience, based on a score that they create and write together. Shadow theatre, object theatre and puppetry, silent film, electronic and non-electronic concerts, fairy tales and cartoons are just some of the many fields and genres that Stereoptick enjoy experimenting with, blurring artistic boundaries. At the heart of the many art forms presented on stage lies a principle: to reveal the technical process that brings characters, paintings and a story to life. The audience is free to let themselves be carried away by the images and stories projected onto the screen, or to watch in detail how the drawing moves across the screen, how the ink creates a silhouette against a transparent background, and which instrument is used to bring it to life. Visual, musical and without text, Stereoptik’s creations spark curiosity and wonder in audiences of all ages.