Within “the politics of time”, whatever becomes of all the discarded possibilities? Are they forever relegated to the vertiginous rubbish bins of history? Or is there some meticulous collector out there with the power to save them? Can the past be reduced to a succession of faded hours? By recalling passed conjectures, “confronting the past signifies that one studies it, not in a historical way as before, but rather in a political way, with political categories”. Treating history politically is to think about it from the point of view of its strategic moments and points of intervention. “Presence of mind” is the political quality par excellence of this art of the present (1).

Go take a closer look

Nothing is meant to last. Each passing instant irremediably transforms and alters all that is. The time span of our ephemeral existence only allows us a rather vague experience of the duration, an approximate, imaginary and vertiginous representation of time past, present and future. Birth, growth, aging and disappearance: a life. But what is a life? Two lives. Three lives. Dozens, hundreds, thousands, innumerable lives and deaths, young and old, sick and robust, soldier and civilian, victor and vanquished, master and slave; the billions who have come into existence and departed; the women, men and children of whose destinies we can only ever know fragments or snatches of.

Brothers, men who live after us,
Let not your hearts be hardened against us, Because, if you have pity for us poor men,
God will have more mercy toward you.
You see us here attached five or six:
When our flesh that was nourished so well
Is over time devoured and putrefied,
And we, the bones, have become cinders and powder. Let no one laugh at our misfortune:
But pray that God absolve us all ! (2)

Human brothers buried since only a few seconds, minutes, hours, days, nights, weeks, seasons, years, by the tens, thousands, in countless numbers. A peculiar sensation arises when one thinks about how some 108.2 billion individuals have been born since the dawn of humanity. And that 93% have died. The saturation of the world. It is difficult to imagine the time that came before us.

(…)Then again, we cannot tell what fortune the future will bring us,
Or what chance will send us, or what end is in store for us.
By prolonging life we do not deduct a single moment from the time of our death, Nor can we diminish its duration by subtracting anything from it.
Therefore, however many generations your life may span,
The same eternal death will still await you;
And one who ended life with today’s light will remain dead no less long
Than one who perished many months and years ago.(…) (3)

1 The title can be translated to Go take a closer look.
2 René Schérer, Grandeur de Bensaïd – Lignes 2010 n° 32
3 Lucretius, On the Nature of Things. translated by Marcus Ferguson Smith

Duration 1H20

CREDITS
conception Maguy Marin
with Antoine Besson, Kais Chouibi, Daphné Koutsafti, Louise Mariotte movie David Mambouch
models Paul Pedebidau
iconography Louise Mariotte
sound and music design David Mambouch
light design Alexandre Béneteaud
assisted by Kimberley Berna-Cotinet
sound engineer Chloé Barbe
scenography Balyam Ballabeni & Benjamin Lebreton
assisted by Côme Hugueny
costumes Nelly Geyres

Coproduction:
Festival d’Avignon
Théâtre de la Ville – Paris
Théâtre Dijon Bourgogne – Centre Dramatique National
Théâtre des 13 vents – Centre Dramatique National – Montpellier
Théâtre + Cinéma – scène nationale de Narbonne
Théâtre de Lorient – Centre Dramatique National
POLE-SUD, CDCN Strasbourg
Les Halles de Schaerbeck- Bruxelles
Le Parvis – scène nationale Tarbes Pyrénées
Théâtre National de Bretagne – Rennes
Compagnie Maguy Marin

Mentions:
The Ministry of Culture – DRAC Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes supports Compagnie Maguy Marin in its work nationally and abroad.

Compagnie Maguy Marin is subsidised by the city of Lyon, the Region Auvergne-Rhône- Alpes and receives support from the Institut français for its projects abroad.

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL DISTRIBUTION A Propic / Line Rousseau and Marion Gauvent

AGENDA
under construction

Previous dates
2023
February 2023
14 Y Aller Voir De Plus Pres – Théâtre Des 13 Vents, CDN Montpellier (FR)
15 Y Aller Voir De Plus Pres – Théâtre Des 13 Vents, CDN Montpellier (FR)
16 Y Aller Voir De Plus Pres – Théâtre Des 13 Vents, CDN Montpellier (FR)
17 Y Aller Voir De Plus Pres – Théâtre Des 13 Vents, CDN Montpellier (FR)
[…]

2022
January 2022
11 Pôle Sud CDCN, Strasbourg (FR)
12 Pôle Sud CDCN, Strasbourg (FR)

March 2022
1 CDN Dijon Bourgogne (FR)
2 CDN Dijon Bourgogne (FR)
3 CDN Dijon Bourgogne (FR)
4 CDN Dijon Bourgogne (FR)
5 CDN Dijon Bourgogne (FR)
8  Les Halles de Schaerbeek, Bruxelles (BE)
9 Les Halles de Schaerbeek, Bruxelles (BE)
10 Les Halles de Schaerbeek, Bruxelles (BE)

April 2022
5 L‘Espal, Le Mans (FR)
6 L‘Espal, Le Mans (FR)

October 2022
27 Ramdam, Ste Foy Les Lyon (FR)
28 Ramdam, Ste Foy Les Lyon (FR)
29 Ramdam, Ste Foy Les Lyon (FR)

2021
October 2021
20 Y aller voir de plus près – Théâtre de la Ville/  Les Abbesses, Paris (FR)
21 Y aller voir de plus près – Théâtre de la Ville/  Les Abbesses, Paris (FR)
22 Y aller voir de plus près – Théâtre de la Ville/  Les Abbesses, Paris (FR)
23 Y aller voir de plus près – Théâtre de la Ville/  Les Abbesses, Paris (FR)
25 Y aller voir de plus près – Théâtre de la Ville/  Les Abbesses, Paris (FR)
26 Y aller voir de plus près – Théâtre de la Ville/  Les Abbesses, Paris (FR)
27 Y aller voir de plus près – Théâtre de la Ville/  Les Abbesses, Paris (FR)
28 Y aller voir de plus près – Théâtre de la Ville/  Les Abbesses, Paris (FR)
29 Y aller voir de plus près – Théâtre de la Ville/  Les Abbesses, Paris (FR)

November 2021
16 TNB / Le Triangle, Rennes (FR)
17 TNB / Le Triangle, Rennes (FR)
18 TNB / Le Triangle, Rennes (FR)
19 TNB / Le Triangle, Rennes (FR)
20 TNB / Le Triangle, Rennes (FR)
24 Théâtre de Lorient, Centre Dramatique, Lorient (FR)
25 Théâtre de Lorient, Centre Dramatique, Lorient (FR)
26 Théâtre de Lorient, Centre Dramatique, Lorient (FR)
30 Théâtre, Narbonne (FR)

December 2021
6 Le Parvis, Tarbes (FR)
14 Points Communs, Scène Nationale de Cergy Pontoise (FR)
15 Points Communs, Scène Nationale de Cergy Pontoise (FR)