Venues and dates

  • Théâtre National Populaire

    • From
      to
      19h30
    • From
      to
      15h30 – 19h30
    • From
      to
      19h30

Prices

26 € ; 21 € ; 14 € ; 13 € ; 12 € ; 8 € ;7 €

Création of Alice Laloy

The video game on the stage.

The Ring of Katharsy invites the audience to watch a tournament the rules of which are similar to those of video games. In this system two players face off for four cutthroat games. The encounter takes place on the ring via the players’ flesh and blood avatars. They direct them, they give them orders or else become one with them by lending them their voice. Above the game-playing surface is suspended a wire screen to which objects (clothes, a table and chairs, a television, a washing machine, etcetera...) are attached. At the beginning of each game one or several objects fall to the ring, stoking the covetousness of the players and thus setting the game in motion. The four games in question — Black Friday, Enjoy your meal, TV Session and Following Day — reflect a manipulation-, consumption-, and competition-based society.

As a prelude, the tournament begins with prep time during which the game (gameplay) is presented. As the tournament progresses, the games become increasingly cruel, the players increasingly violent, commands and insults and fly, and beleaguered avatars become ferocious. After the ferocity of the games, during intermissions the Bouncer rids the ring of the inert bodies of deactivated avatars and tidies up. The goal of these interludes is to allow players and audience alike to take a break in the action.

Finally, theatre gets involved in the last game, upending competition through a revolt of the avatars. The momentum shifts, as does the stage by taking on the color of a new order. The idea is not necessarily to make improvements. The ending is a kind of warning rather than a moral.

Break on october 14th Teaser : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Cp8oYj4qnk

Audience

from 15 years old

Duration

1:30