La Grande Mêlée *Adapted from the book by Georges Perec

In A Man Asleep, a twenty-five-year-old student embarks upon a disturbing and exhausting pursuit of indifference, following his experience in non-existence with relentless logic. One morning, he is suddenly overcome by the pointlessness of it all. He decides to withdraw from life and to go back to sleep even though he is supposed to go and take an exam. From then on, he practically sleepwalks through life, silently performing the routines of self-effacement. In the end, this exploration of indifference will not lead the young man to self-annihilation. Instead, he will wake up and, thanks to a saving storm, recover his desire and strength to live. A Man Asleep is written like an inner song, a powerful and poetic litany. A real celebration of life which could paradoxically be considered an ambiguous farewell, as this young man who, after having tried to withdraw from life, manages to find his own way.

In a steel structure with a mobile stage design, like a chambre de bonne, in a double frontal plane, the cellist Vincent Courtois and the dancer Nicolas Fayol tell of the poignant contradiction between feelings of being and not being in the world.

Emmanuelle Hertmann, production et distribution• contact@lagrandemelee.com
www.lagrandemelee.com

Co-production: Théâtre de Nîmes • Théâtre des 13 vents - Centre Dramatique National Languedoc-Roussillon Montpellier • Scènes Croisées de Lozère.
Supported by: Ministry of Culture and Communication, Drac Languedoc-Roussillon • Région Languedoc Roussillon • Conseil général du Gard.

Adaptation, concept and staging: Bruno Geslin
Performers: Vincent Courtois et Nicolas Fayol
Composer: Vincent Courtois
Lights: Laurent Bénard
Sound: Teddy Degouys
Video: Quentin Vigier
Images: Bruno Geslin, Nicolas Fayol 
Scenography: Bruno Geslin, Jean-Paul Zurcher
Construction and stage management: Jean-Paul Zurcher *Sceduled by the Centre Dramatique National of Languedoc-Roussillon Montpellier