ARCHIVES 2017 / Childhood at Work

What is it that's at work during childhood? Aren't daydreaming and meandering inactivity the first stages of inventiveness? Using the early works of four great authors, Robin Renucci alternates between different literary forms and explores the origins of what makes an artistic vocation. Henri Michaux follows the journey of the soul when it breaks away from a still body to swim away into the unknown. As a child, Marcel Proust despairs of being kissed goodnight by his mother, only to realise later that what brought him the most pleasure was the waiting. Arthur Rimbaud, so very young, explains in verse how one's first poems are born at the same time as one's first romantic feelings. Romain Gary, whose mother sees him only as a potential destiny, feels overwhelmed, but also filled with love and ambition. For those unique children, emotional attachments and constraints become part of their work: their need to express themselves turns into an addiction to symbols, and before they know it, they've become poets. In a constant dialogue with Nicolas Stavy's piano and a physically relaxed atmosphere that brings to mind a state of dreaming, Robin Renucci invites the audience to reflect on the invisible work that makes us human: our aspiration to dream, our desire for the incredible.

Robin Renucci
Trained at the école Charles Dullin, then at the Conservatoire national supérieur d'art dramatique, where he now teaches, Robin Renucci is an actor and director known for his numerous roles in cinema, theatre, and television, and has been celebrated for his engagement with, among others, the Aria (Association for International Artistic Encounters), which he founded in 1998 in Corsica. A self-described “professional amateur,” Robin Renucci puts at the heart of all his projects his desire to share and transmit the love of art, and the possibility for everyone to experience it. As director of the Centre dramatique national Les Tréteaux de France since 2011, he has been invited to speak and perform in all sorts of contexts. After a cycle of shows about submission and debasement (August Strindberg's Miss Julie, but also Molière's The School for Wives and Eugène Ionesco's The Lesson, both directed by Christian Schiaretti), his recent creations have focused on the relationship between work and wealth (Honoré de Balzac's Le Faiseur; L'Avaleur, based on Jerry Sterner's Other People's Money). Childhood at Work is part of this newest cycle.

Nicolas Stavy
Nicolas Stavy's passion for the piano dates back to his childhood. Determined to make it his life's work, he joined the Conservatoire national supérieur de musique et de danse, then the Conservatoire de Genève to train as a virtuoso. He graduated each time with the highest honours, and was then awarded a special prize at the International Chopin Piano Competition in Warsaw. With his large repertoire and love for various forms, Nicolas Stavy also likes to cross the divide between music and the other arts, working on shows with artists like Didier Sandre or Robin Renucci, with whom he performed in Wladyslaw Szpilman's The Pianist.

AN ITINERANT SHOW

7 JUL 20H Avignon, Collège Anselme Mathieu
8 JUL 20H Sérignan du Comtat, Espace La Garance
10 JUL 20H Sorgues, Pôle culturel Camille Claudel
11 JUL 20H Caumont-sur-Durance, Salle Roger Orlando
13 JUL 20H Morières-lès-Avignon, Espace culturel Folard
14 JUL 20H Avignon, Espace pluriel La Rocade La Barbière
15 JUL 20H Avignon, BMW MINI-Foch Automobiles
18 JUL 20H Vacqueyras, Cour du château
19 JUL 20H Saze, Salle polyvalente
20 JUL 15H AND 20H Mazan, La Boiserie
23 JUL 20H Roquemaure, Salle des fêtes La Cantarello
24 JUL 20H St-Saturnin-lès-Avignon, La Pastourelle
25 JUL 20H Boulbon, Salle Jacques Buravand
26 JUL 20H Rochefort du Gard, Complexe J.Gallia

SHOWS NOT OPEN FOR SALE

12 JUL Le Pontet, Centre pénitentiaire
17 JUL Le Pontet, AFPA