Help Plume find his cabin. A unique participatory show The Feather Cabin(s) prepares for the Jeu de Paume with free and open workshops open to all until Friday November 29 from 4:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. and Saturday and Sunday December 1 from 10 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. to make bird headdresses, fetish and magic sticks, origami… made from wicker branches decorated with all kinds of recycled materials.
La Cabane à Plumes is a 2023 creation in three acts by the Company the Standing Man of Poitiers in the spirit of a Carnival. A show already performed around fifteen times in different places, but never before on this scale thanks to the “solid collaboration of the different structures, which allows us to mobilize as much as possible in the territory.” indicates Benoît Mousserion, artistic director of the collective.
A collective territorial project
A project built with the idea of making a “collective work of territory” to create a link, in close collaboration with the city of Beauvais, the agglomeration of Beauvaisis, the Théâtre des Poissons, Batoude, the ASCA and the conservatory for this giant and unique show which can only be performed on May 23 and 24 with a maximum audience. A highlight included as part of the thirty events planned to celebrate 800 years of the cathedral.
“Plume is a giant 10 year old little girl (7 meters tall) who has a very precious cabin for her. This cabin is surrounded by birds. One day, she arrives at her cabin and all the birds have disappeared to take refuge in another place. Sensing something unusual, she goes looking for them. When she finds them, after a certain time, they explain to her that danger is approaching, and that if nothing is done, her cabin will be destroyed. To help him defend his cabin, the birds tell him that he will have to mobilize all the bird people.“
Public actor
The birds of the cabin will be played in the three acts of the show by the students of CM2 at Alphonse Daudet school. Eighteen artists from the troupe will perform as part of this XXL-sized street show, including 7 puppeteers just for the giant little Plume.
A participatory show created by and with the public who become actors: “These bird peoplethis is the audience of the show. This is why we come well in advance of the show to make the inhabitants of Beauvaisis want to join the bird people, to let the bird that is in each of us emerge.” explains Benoît Mousserion.
Different ways to participate
Alongside the show, different ways of participating are offered to summon the spirits until May. From home, tutorials are broadcast via the website (see the link at the end of the article) specially dedicated so that everyone can build their own bird headdress, their favorite and magical staff, and learn a magic formula in song form.
Workshops will be carried out in different locations, neighborhoods, municipalities, to disseminate the appeal to a wide audience: media libraries of Beauvaisis, associations, schools, social centers, the conservatory from the music school, Tho Café… for more collective creations in the form of totems, standards for each “bird people“.
Another way to participate: around fifteen volunteers will be asked to participate on a technical level.
Wanderings of spirits from the cabin
Parallel to the totems, the cabins of the 7 “are builtcabin spirits” which appear in the three acts of the show. Structures also in wicker decorated with different materials. These spirits of the cabin, also interpreted by inhabitants of Beauvaisis who will go inside their cabin, also structured in wicker decorated with different materials, to wander before the show in different public places in an impromptu manner to unite minds and create connections until May 23 and 24. Funny characters who will waddle along with their music as a “tease” and invitation to the event.
Songs and dances
Who says street performancealso says songs and dances. In addition to the various manual workshops, everyone is invited to dance or give voice, whether as an initiated individual or a simple amateur, member of a choir… by joining the Plume workshops (see dedicated website), on a small repertoire of popular songs like France Gall, Jacques Higelin… or by learning them from home.
In addition to this popular musical repertoire, the show contains a magic formulaa song “which is not simple, which tells something that everyone must learn” specifies the artistic director, to conclude in style this popular, collective, unifying show.
The Company will return from April 14 to 20 with again workshops at Jeu de Paume and around mid-January as part of the Made In Saint Jean festival organized by Batoude. In the meantime, the creations will be exhibited in one of the windows upstairs at the Jeu de Paume.
A cabin story
The troupe will return in May before the show to install the Cabin de Plume on the town hall square which will be open to visitors all week. Inside, visitors will be able to hear the voices of owners of all kinds of cabins interviewed by the troupe, “as if they were discussing their cabin among themselves”: a shepherdess in the Pyrenees, a gardener from Le Creusot, makeshift cabins…“
But also find clues around this cabin which will begin to tell the story, the first act of which will be played on Friday May 23, the second on Saturday the 24th in the morning and the 3rd and final act on Saturday evening.
Link to the website.
