TRANSMISSION
With support from our partners, the company has led several training courses and workshops meant to accompany those on the professional track. Julie Berès also accompanies young artists in their creation, notably as the artistic collaborator for a duo consisting of Justine Berthillot and Frederi Vernier, Noos.
At the ENSATT – Lyon
A course for apprentice directors, set designers, actors and technicians, in December 2015, working toward the creation of Yvonne, Princesse de Bourgogne with Armel Veilhan.
At the CDN de Normandie – Rouen
An AFDAS professional training course in September 2015 for 12 artists from many different fields: circus, theatre, dance, mime, clown work… led by Julie Berès and Stéphanie Chêne, linked to Berès’ work Petit Eyolf, as invited by the CDN de Haute-Normandie in Rouen.
Compagnie Marcel et ses drôles de femmes
A training course led by Julie Berès toward the creation of the piece Une femme de trop. “There are five of them, 4 aerial acrobats and 1 singer. They look for each other and find each other … five realities, colors, personalities, personal journeys which blend together and collide with each other. And when finally everything has found its place, all becomes logical and peaceful: potential relationships and explosive flight.”
Collecting words from the residents of the Îles du Ponant
Julie Berès and the writer Alexandra Badea will begin a journey of immersion and collection featuring the populations of the Îles du Ponant, specifically the Île de Sein which is threatened by rising waters, in partnership with INIZI (an itinerant cultural Season taking place on the Îles du Ponant). The statements and testimonials will be used for the writing part of the creation of Redline, which deals with climate change and the social and political issues that come with it, a work planned for September 2018.
Workshops on the industrial Memory of the city of Brest
The company will be holding, with Armel Veilhan, writing workshops dealing with industrial memory as it applies to the city of Brest, in partnership with the Médiathèque and the Ateliers des Capucins, interpretive journeys experienced in the region. These workshops will culminate in the creation of small forms, some of them musical, developed by amateur performers, which may be performer in various urban venues (MJCs, the Médiathèque, schools…).
ENIB (National School of Engineers in Brest) – since 2009
Since 2009, Les Cambrioleurs, in partnership with Le Quartz-scène nationale de Brest, have led an intensive month-long course with 120 student engineers in their first year of study, an immersive course in contemporary writing (including works by Georges Pérec, Jacques Rebotier, Jean-Luc Lagarce, Alexandra Badéa, Mark Ravenhill). The works are studied, critiqued, read and staged by writers, dramaturges and actors who regularly work with the Les Cambrioleurs company. The course culminates in the creation of a piece, presented annually in the small theatre at Le Quartz.
January 2016: 120 students / 170 hours
Using an idea by Julie Berès, David Wahl and Thomas Cloarec worked with a group of students on the discovery of Mode d’emploi by Alexandra Badéa. In this piece, the principal character is forced to deal with all the rules imposed upon him by the law, society, the family, education, etc. Fighting the absurdity of all these constraints, he denounces them with a certain irony. This piece was presented in an ambulatory fashion at Le Quartz on January 29, 2016. In 2017, again using an idea by Julie Berès, David Wahl and Thomas Cloarec will be working on Peanuts by Fausto Paravidino. The piece will be performed on January 27, 2017 at Le Quartz.
Theatre options at the St Sébastien de Landerneau high school – since 2008
As part of a partnership between the Rectorship, Le Quartz and Les Cambrioleurs, the teaching of theatre classes, both obligatory and optional (around 250 hours each school year) at the Lycée St-Sébastien de Landerneau – has been assigned to the Cambrioleurs. In addition to theoretical classes, Julie Berès and other collaborators from the company (dramaturges, actors, set designers) speak of their experience in the theatre, while also offering practical elements and ideas.
April 2016: Complément à l’Est!
This past year, senior and graduating students studying the various options, participated in a project of scholastic exchange, Complétement à l’Est! Having worked the whole year on Pinocchio by Joël Pommerat, they travelled to Eastern Europe for fifteen days, performing their work 4 times.
May 2017: Festival of Francophone theatre, L Majuscule
Throughout the 2016-2017 school year, the students will be preparing a Francophone theatre Festival, hosting some of the groups they met on their trip performing Complétement à l’Est. They will present the work they have prepared with members from the Compagnie les Cambrioleurs.
Courses for amateurs
Several courses are held which target amateur performers, notably in partnership with the Maison du Théâtre à Brest. For example in April 2009 there was a course with a group of amateurs dealing with the Chorus and visual language, working on a reading of the text by Stig Dagerman, Notre besoin de consolation est impossible à rassasier. More recently in 2015, to accompany the presentation of Petit Eyolf on March 5, 2015 at the Théâtre du Pays de Morlaix, the Maison du Théâtre à Brest invited the company Les Cambrioleurs to lead a workshop with 15 amateurs on March 7 and 8, 2015 at the MJC de Morlaix, led by the choreographer Stéphanie Chêne.
Les Marches artistiques (2010-2013)
Beginning in 2010, the company has been developing the process of immersion into the lives of rural populations, shooting also a documentary film based on interviews with two families living in Plounéour-Ménez, which then led to the creation of J’empruntai une hache et partis dans les bois. To continue their exploration of people’s relationship to the land, the company developed a number of immersive actions in 2012, targeting a diverse audience, readers and non-readers, focusing in particular on intergenerational exchanges. The project included an invitation to work for 2-3 days, rediscovering the remarkable landscape of the Monts d’Arrée, accompanied by artists who suggested a few brief stopovers in the natural setting, readings in historically well-known areas. Two editions of this Marche Artistique have happened: the first one, led by Thomas Cloarec, Sylvian Bruchon and Tangy Daniel, took place on July 4, 5 and 6, 2012, dealing with the language specific to the philosopher and writer Henry David Thoreau, a 19th century American writer who wrote about his solitary life, focusing on a poetic approach to the idea of autonomy. The next Marche Artistique took place on June 1 and 2, 2013, in partnership with the Association ADDES (Association for Aiding Economic and Social Development) in Botmeur, led by Thomas Cloarec and Youn Daniel (a nature guide for ADDES), offering a montage of poetic texts by René Char, José-Maria de Heredia, Eugène Guillevic, Michel Butor, Michel Tournier, Henry David Thoreau and traditional stories offered by Youn Daniel.
Meetings and Debates
Using a variety of current themes used in the company’s pieces, allowing for discussion and the debating of different points of view, encounters and forums including specialists from different fields (sociologists, philosophers, scientists, doctors, historians) enter into discussions with the artists and the audience, either before or after a performance. When Notre besoin de consolation was on tour, several encounters took place to discuss the issues of bio‑ethics, for example at the Hexagone de Meylan under the auspices of the science festival, or during the European Forum on Bio‑Ethics in Strasbourg, including scientists, doctors, jurists, geneticists. Speakers: Israël Nisand, Jean-Michel Besnier. Many discussions and encounters took place during the tour of Lendemains de fête, notably in Pau where the day after the performance, the Espace pluriel theatre offered a screening of the film Je suis by Emmanuel Finkiel, inviting Elsa Dourdet, the dramaturge of the work and a film and theatre writer – to lead the discussion with the audience. Beyond the cultural actions offered by the Compagnie Les Cambrioleurs, informal encounters onstage are and will always be possible.
Work on creations with amateurs
Several creations of the company have included in their creative processes work with groups of amateur performers. During the Notre Besoin de consolation tour (70 dates/ 31 cities/ 15 amateurs in each city), workshops were held with groups of amateurs in each city hosting a performance, the day before and the day of the performance, allowing them to participate in several scenes in the piece. Similarly, in each city where Lendemains de Fête was performed (38 dates/ 14 cities / 15 amateurs in each city), in partnership with the theatres hosting the piece, specifically their PR departments – a group of 15 chorus singers, mostly older, was invited to participate in the performances. Two to three months before the performance, the works to be sung (Bach, Purcell, Vivaldi) were sent to the chorus so that they could learn and prepare the repertory. This work with amateur singers, more focused on voice work, did not exclude choreographic input, with two rehearsals held the the day before and the day of the performance by Stéphanie Chêne, an artistic collaborator and choreographer on Lendemains de fête.