ARGILE, Engraved in Clay

What words appear when one writes on the earth?
What is the relationship between matter, land, crude, concrete?
What remains of the infinite delicacy that man is capable of in the face of his fellow-men? Under what conditions?

On a 4-square-meter stage made of 6-ton-of clay, an actor, a sculptor, a young dancer and a musician will construct a bridge connecting matter, words, bodily movements and sounds, using their own methods and props.

Accompanying the music of Naï, the dancer will use her body to explore the potentiality of clay, which will emerge both as her dancing partner and the extension of her body parts.

The sculptor touches and molds the clay into different shapes. The actors, as the vehicle of speech, will constantly create collision between language and the clay. These stage manifestations will work together to construct a carnival of language and body.

The clay preserves traces of body, sounds and movements, in the same way as echoes preserve traces of speech. Clay provides a way to visualize the reflection and reverberation of speech in the space.

ARGILE transforms the stage into a space that can be remolded and expand the limit of body and speech. The creators ask questions about time, material memory, energy of language and human desire. The power it emits further reconstructs both bodies of performers and audience. It also allows the collision and fusion of the texts and matters.

Earth, words, sounds, movements, spaces… everything is a pretext to sculpt for Orélie Fuchs Chen. The play, written, directed and staged by the Neuchâtel artist, uses a poetic playground for language and body, exploring the interrelation between the participants and their interactions with the soil.

Orélie Fuchs Chen

Orélie Fuchs Chen was born in 1977. She is a writer, theatre director, and visual artist. She works and lives in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. She studied literature and sculpture at Ville de Genève and worked as an artist in residency at théâtre de la Comédie, Genève. Meanwhile,  Orélie staged her first theatrical production, L’acteur dit (The Actor Says), in Festival de la Bâtie, Genève, L’Arsenic Lausanne and CCN, Neuchâtel. This work was presented by Pierre-Isaïe Duc, Delphine Rosay, Shin Iglesias, a child, Amandine, and a donkey. Later, Orélie wrote Lightning (Like the silent world) in Paris and staged the production with Delphine Rosay. Her other works include photography, literature and painting, etc.