Tickets go on sale today for the UK premiere of C-o-n-t-a-c-t, an immersive outdoor experience with a 3D sound design which audiences will listen to on their own headphones. Tickets can be purchased via TodayTix or the C-o-n-t-a-c-t website from 9am today.
Opening on Monday 31st August, audiences of no more than 15 per show will purchase their tickets online and will then receive a link to download the app which will provide the exact location. The first three London locations confirmed so far are Tower Bridge, Greenwich and Clapham Common. Further locations will be announced in due course.
The show will run for 50 minutes without an interval and audiences will download the audio from the app which is a completely new piece of technology which synchronizes the spectators and actors, allowing the show to play with theatrical concepts and a new form of dramaturgy.
Premiering in France over the summer in a world where social distancing became the ‘new normal’, this timely story of a moving and unexpected encounter explores the themes of mental health and anxiety through the eyes of Sarah as she is approached by someone she believes to be a stranger. She discovers that he can hear her thoughts but how? Who is this man? Dive into her mind in this unique sensory and immersive new show and experience theatre like never before.
Katy Lipson said: “As soon as I discovered C-o-n-t-a-c-t I was immediately drawn into the creativity and themes of the piece and recognised how relevant the material was and how it was created specifically around the times we are currently living. As a producer, I remain committed to creating opportunities not only for audiences but for the immense talent pool we have in the UK who are currently without many opportunities to perform. I hope the city of London embraces the experience as much as the Parisian audiences.”
Co-writers of the piece, Samuel Sené and Gabrielle Jourdain said: “We were driven by the need to reconnect with our profession and with the audience. We wanted to offer an artistic encounter even in the current health context, therefore we have imagined this tailored theatrical experience. To be able to share this feeling again, the one we only feel with live performance. To reunite with Theatre.”
Mathilde Moulin said: “We are extremely happy to bring C-o-n-t-a-c-t to London, after its very successful debut in Paris! This socially distanced theatrical experience mixes live performance and new technology to create a brand-new form of theatre, specifically adapted to the period of time we are in. The show is relatable to anyone who has experienced social distancing over several weeks or months, but not only. The audience dives into the characters thoughts. They find themselves immersed in someone else’s mind and follow their journey to finding inner peace. We cannot wait for the British audience to come experience it!”
To ensure audience safety, audiences will be asked to purchase paperless tickets online and bring their own headphones to wear throughout the performance. The number of audience members is limited to 15 per performance to ensure social distancing can be respected between the cast and audience. Audiences are asked to respect all public health guidelines and wear masks at all times.
31 August – 10 October 2020
Timings: 16:30/18:00/19:30
General on sale: 9am 6 October 2020
Tickets - £22.50
Press performances: 2, 3, 4 September at 16:30/18:00/19:30 (Central)
Website: contactshow.co.uk
Locations
LONDON – CENTRAL
Monument: In front of 3 Lower Thames St, Bridge, EC3R 6HD
LONDON – SOUTH
Clapham Common: At the entrance of the park opposite 22 The Pavement, SW4 0HY
LONDON – GREENWICH
Cutty Sark: at the entrance of the Greenwich Foot Tunnel South, SE10 9HT
BIOGRAPHIES & CREDITS
Concept and direction: Samuel Sené
Original idea: Gabrielle Jourdain
Original French production: Musidrama
Book: Eric Chantelauze
English adaptation: Quentin Bruno
Music and Sound Design: Cyril Barbessol
Associate Director: Bronagh Lagan
Casting Director: Jane Deitch
ARIA ENTERTAINMENT
KATY LIPSON – Producer
Aria Entertainment was founded in 2012 by Katy Lipson. In 2017, Katy was awarded the Best Producer award by the Off-West End Awards and is a recipient of a Stage One Bursary and Start Up Award. She took part in the first ever UK/US Producer Exchange in 2019 and was nominated for International Producer Of The Year in 2020 by the League Of Professional Women in New York. She made “The Stage 100” a list of the most influential people working in British Theatre in 2018, 2019 and 2020 for her work as producing artistic director of the Hope Mill Theatre.
Katy produced the UK Premiere Tour of The Addams Family in 2017 and the 50th Anniversary touring production of HAIR in 2019 which also ran at the London Vaults in 2017 and which she originally co-produced with Hope Mill Theatre in 2016, where she was the Producing Artistic Director for all in-house musicals from 2016 – 2019. HAIR (The Vaults) won the award for Best Off-West End Production at the 2018 WhatsOnStage Awards. She transferred a production of Pippin, to Southwark Playhouse, which was nominated for a record number of Off West End Awards and her production of Spring Awakening won the award for Best Regional show at the 2019 WOS awards. In 2012, the bicentenary year of Charles Dickens’ birth, she produced a revival of The Mystery of Edwin Drood at the Arts Theatre, West End. This was followed by a transfer to the same venue in 2017 of new musical The Toxic Avenger following runs at The Edinburgh Festival’s Pleasance Theatre and the Southwark Playhouse.
Katy set up the From Page to Stage festival to support new musicals at all difference stages of development. In 6 years FPTS has given platform to over 100 new musicals. Many have gone on to have full productions and be licensed worldwide. Aria runs a full-time literary department for new musicals.
Other productions include: Mame (UK Tour), which was recently nominated for 7 WhatsOnStage Awards and starred Tracie Bennett; Unexpected Joy (Southwark Playhouse and York Theatre, Off-Broadway); It’s Only Life (Union Theatre); Mame, The Astonishing Times of Timothy Cratchit, Rags, Putting it Together, The Return of the Soldier, Pippin, Spring Awakening, Aspects of Love, Little Women, The ToyBoy Diaries, Yank!, Parade and HAIR (Hope Mill Theatre); the London transfers of Pippin (Southwark Playhouse) and Yank! (Charing Cross Theatre); Rags and tick, tick…BOOM! (Park Theatre); Aspects of Love, The Toxic Avenger and Promises, Promises (Southwark Playhouse); Vanities The Musical (Trafalgar Studios); The House of Mirrors & Hearts (Arcola Theatre); See What I Wanna See and The Return Of The Soldier (Jermyn Street Theatre); The Adventures of Pinocchio, Lizzie and The Who’s Tommy (Greenwich Theatre), Marry Me A Little, Jerry’s Girls and Forever Plaid (St. James Studio); Bar Mitzvah Boy, That’s Jewish Entertainment, Bette Miller and Me, The Jewish Legends, The Great Jewish American Songbook and The MGM Story (Upstairs at the Gatehouse and The Radlett Centre).
Other current and recent projects include: The Last 5 Years (Southwark Playhouse); Zorro The Musical; Sammy (Lyric Hammersmith); The Addams Family (UK Tour) and Elton John: It’s A Little Bit Funny and Jewish Hollywood (Upstairs at the Gatehouse, The Radlett Centre).
WEF PRODUCTIONS
MATHILDE MOULIN – Producer
Mathilde was born in France, where from a young age, she classically trained at a Parisian National Conservatoire, studying music, drama and dance. Following her training, she then graduated from the International Academy of Musical Theatre in Paris where she was awarded ‘student of the year’ in 2008.
Mathilde started her career as a performer. Her experience in New York singing at the United Nations for 'The MDG millennium development goals Awards', alongside internationally renowned artists like David Paich and Macy Gray, ignited her desire to experience the Arts in an Anglo-Saxon country.
Mathilde moved to London in 2013. The challenge of exploring a different culture, in a different language, broadened her skills and horizon. Whilst still working as a performer and voice over artist, Mathilde obtained a Master’s Degree in Creative Producing from Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts in 2017. She co-founded WEF Productions and produced over 40 cabarets with the company.
WEF was originally a union of French speaking theatre practitioners in London, aimed at creating a bridge between the French and British musical theatre communities through musical exchanges. This helped promote new work by young composers and provide a platform for experienced and emerging talents. The success of these events — not only with British and French audiences and artists, but with international artists who felt welcome and valued for their cultural differences — inspired Mathilde and her colleagues to go further. In the current social context, Mathilde and WEF Productions are extremely happy to bring C-o-n-t-a-c-t to London and share this new theatrical experience with an international audience in one of Europe’s most cosmopolitan city.
ARTISTIC TEAM
SAMUEL SENÉ – Concept and Direction
After a successful academic journey (youngest awarded baccalauréat in France at the age of 14, Agrégé in mathematics from the École Normale Supérieure, but also multiple awards with honours for piano, accompaniment orchestra conducting,...), Samuel has conducted many operas, operettas or events ("Carmen", "Orpheus in the Underground", "Hamlet", "La Belle Hélène", the official Star Wars concert, James Bond Symphonic Tour, etc.)
Thanks to his dual musical and theatrical training, he has staged operas ("Tosca", "Orphée and Eurydice", "Paillasse", "Carmen",…), musical shows ("Tales without borders" at the Célestins theatre - Lyon), musical theatre creations ("Legendes Parisiennes", "#hashtags", "Flop", "Jack the ripper", "Week-end!", "Ca bouge"…) and also plays like "La leçon" de Ionesco at the Mouffetard and Lucernaire theatres, and "Anna is waiting for love" at the Mathurins theater.
Samuel's following career promptly turned to musical theatre : he and worked as music director for various shows such as "Fame", "She loves me", "West Side Story", "Next thing you know", "Oliver", and lately "Into the woods", currently on tour in France. He conducted many concerts all over Europe but also in Brazil, and directed "Yves Montand, the musical" in Russia (Saint-Petersburg, Moscow, ...) Whether during concerts, educational operations, or engaged creations, he supports the art of musical theatre, Anglo-Saxon or French, as a complete art, committed and non-consensual.
In 2018, he co-wrote and directed "Comédiens!" , at the Théâtre de la Huchette, in Paris. The play received five musical comedy awards, including Best staging, Best Book and Best show. In 2019, he did it again with "A Christmas Carol" and "Schrodinger's Man" at the Artistic Theatre, which won the awards of Best Staging, Best Book, Best Score. awards : the Musical Director of the Year award. Upcoming shows : a new conceptual play about spies during Cold War "Souviens-toi de te méfier", a musical journey through François Courdot's life in New York "Contre-temps", and the development of "C-o-n-t-a-c-t" with many 2.0 theatre projects.
GABRIELLE JOURDAIN - Original Idea
Daughter of a set designer and an opera director, Gabrielle Jourdain trained in singing, theatre and dance at her city's conservatory as well as at CREA (Center d'Eveil Artistique) . Her training lead her to perform on the most beautiful stages of France as a young chorister (Paris Opera, Châtelet Theatre, Vichy Opera, Grand Theatre of Aix-en-Provence etc. ...).
She studied cultural businesses management whilst continuing performing in CREA productions. Passionate about opera and musicals, she joined the production department of the Mogador Theatre. For several years, she worked on various aspects of the production process: castings, schedules and logistics. At its creation, the Seine Musicale then hired her to coordinate hundreds of concerts, shows and festivals for three years. Now freelance since 2011, she has worked on the revival of The Lion King production at Le Mogador and on a big project: adapting opera for a young audience.
Finally, to adapt to the current sanitary situation and to keep the connection between the people and theatre alive, she designed with Samuel Sené the show C-Ω-N-T-α-C-T that she co-produces.
ERIC CHANTELAUZE – Script
As an Actor, Eric Chantelauze trained at the CNR of Lille and has performed in various plays directed by Brigitte Jaques, Jean-Claude Fall, Philippe Calvario, Ned Grujic, Jean-Paul Tribout, Sophie Lecarpentier, Gil Bourasseau, Vincianne Regattieri… and currently in Smoke rings at the Michel theater, and in Cyrano Ostinato fantaisies at the Lepic theater with the Collectif du Libre Acteur directed by Sébastien Bonnabel. Recently, he joined Mélody Mourey for her new creation, at the Théâtre des Béliers.
As a director, he directed two short fiction films for the big screen with Patrick Azam (A L'Heure; Partir), a few animated films with the collective Les Beautiful Fools (Laika; 3 November 1957) and the official music video for Keeping You Alive by the Gossip. Lyricist for several singers (Christophe Bonzom, Cyril Romoli, Pascal Sangla), he also writes for the theatre (broadcast on France Culture of his play Le Temps des Chiens). For the company Casalibus, he adapts A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Precious Ridiculous.
With Didier Bailly, he creates musical shows: La Guinguette a rouvert ses volets (With 3 nominations at the Molières 2005), La Jeune Fille et l’amour (SACD 2008 award) and La Poupée Sanglante which he writes and directs at the Theatre de la Huchette in 2016 (7 nominations for the 2017 Musical Comedy Awards: Charlotte Ruby won the award for Most Promising female performer, and Alexandre Jérôme, for Most Promising male performer), and more recently Une vie, the musical adaptation of the novel by Maupassant.
In 2018, he and Samuel Sené wrote Comédiens!, which triumphed at the Théâtre de la Huchette for several months, and won them the Best Score award. He also created the musical Weekend!, Schrodinger's man, and A Christmas Carol, for the 2018-19 season at the Artistic theater. This season he is developing a new play, Souviens-toi de te méfier, and the new musical Contretemps.
QUENTIN BRUNO – English Translation
French and American, Quentin Bruno is an actor, singer, dancer currently living in NYC. Theatre credits (in France, Europe, and the US) include Next Thing You Know, Cabaret, Disneyland Paris, South Pacific, Island Song as well as Naked Boys Singing! (Off-Broadway debut) and Manifesto : Diaghilev. Film credits include the award winning French musical short “Lorraine ne sait pas chanter” (Lorraine can’t sing), the lead in the upcoming mockumentary “Egg on your face (Avoir l’air plutôt ridicule)”, and “Check, Please, the webseries”. Commercial credits include Stella Artois, Steinway and Sons, Duolingo, and many others.
In 2015, he was one of Mika’s talents on The Voice France.
Quentin has also worked as a choreographer, show adaptor/translator (Un jour où l’autre, French version of the musical Next Thing You Know), director and assistant director, and is thrilled to collaborate with Samuel Sené once again, bringing this new theatrical experience to anglophone audiences.
CYRIL BARBESSOL – Music and Sound Design
Cyril Barbessol is a pianist and composer born in 1970 in Fontainebleau, France.
Cyril undertook classical studies in ‘Schola Cantorul Paris’ and in Marseille with Mrs Canavaggia. He performed his first concert in 1988 at the Fontainebleau theatre, playing Chopin, Rachmaninov, Scriabine and Brahms. Hi won several prizes such as Nerini (1987) and the Concours Musical de France (1988).
Cyril moved to Paris in 1989 to study jazz, advance harmony and orchestra with Ivan Julien and Bernard Maury.
He played with the salsa band Mambo Mania and became the director of the ‘Paradis Latin’ Cabaret. He worked with many famous jazz artists (Pierrick Pedron, Laurent Robin, Benjamin Henock, Gildas Boclé, Régis Ceccarelli…) as well as artists from the African scene (Rido Bayonne, Rai-Cum, Idrissa Diop, Amar Sundy…).
In 2000, Cyril took part in mainstream international collaborations with pop music singers such as Phil Collins, Henri Salvador, the Gipsy Kings, Asa with whom he toured over the world (Japan, South Africa, Australia, USA, Canada, Brazil, UK…).
He was the piano soloist in the Jean-Jacques Justafré symphonic orchestra in 2011 in China.
Of all these collaborations, one of the most striking one was the one with Ivry Gitlis, an internationally renowned violin player. After meeting in a recording studio, Ivry asked Cyril to join him in the Martha Argerich festival in Switzerland to play in a tribute to Gershwin.
A trip to Mumbai (India), gave Cyril a chance to meet Emmanuelle de Decker, manager of The Blue Frog, the most famous jazz club in town. She asked him to open and close the Bengalor Jazz Festival. The success he met during this event motivated him to work on his first solo album, ‘Frontpage’, that came out in 2013.
Cyril has been composing for various artists and productions since.
JEAN-PHILIPPE MARIE DE CHASTENAY – Founder and CEO of Touaregs
Entrepreneur above all, Jean-Philippe founded in 2000 the Touaregs agency specializing in innovation and CRM, and then created in 2011, the leather goods brand Atelier Saint-Loup. After studying computer science at Dauphine, he graduated with an MBA from Sciences Po Paris.
Passionate about books, in 2016 he co-founded Chai - a publishing start-up incubated by the Contentshift / Boersenverein in Germany. Being part of the first generation of “digital natives”, his research focuses on the societal impacts of the new dominant players and their underlying models. He teaches and hosts conferences on digital, innovation and anticipation (ESC Dijon, University of La Rochelle, Caisse des Dépôts, ScPo, etc.). He is also working on the report of the informal economy in current changes (bitcoins, deep web, food, health ...).
Jean-Philippe Marie de Chastenay is a doctoral student in the PRISM laboratory of the Panthéon-Sorbonne Doctoral Management School on the subject: "Promotion and impact on governance. The case of Big Data.” His article Interculturality or a new form of imperialism? The elitist "Californian" model of Grown-ups, in Cloet P.R., Guenette A.M., Mutabazi E., Pierre P. (éds), presents the intercultural challenge, stakes and perspectives for entrepreneurship.
HANNA LASSERRE PhD - Dramaturgy Consulting
Hanna Lasserre graduated in 2007 from the National Institute of Performing Arts (INSAS) in Brussels in directing. She works as Assistant Dramaturg at the Volksbuhne (Berlin), where she collaborates with Jérôme Savary in 2009 and Olivier Py in 2011, among others. In 2012, she assisted Frank Castorf for the first time in directing La Dame aux Camélias at the Odéon-théâtre de l'Europe in Paris before working with him again on Bajazet, considering Le Théâtre et la Peste de Racine / Artaud in 2019 co-produced by the Théâtre de Vidy (Lausanne) and the MC93 (Bobigny).
Director and playwright, she was awarded a Phd in Performing Arts in June 2019. Her research on contemporary dramaturgical processes is part of an articulation between practical and aesthetic theory of theatre. Her thesis-creation entitled “Process and creation of a counter-narration” raises the challenges of the use of narration in contemporary creation as well as the commitment of artists to seek a theatrical alternative in the face of mercantile logic and its spectacularisation. Since 2015, she has been working as a lecturer in theatrical studies at the universities of Paris 8 Vincennes Saint-Denis, Paris Ouest Nanterre-La Défense and Sophia Antipolis in Nice. She has also been working at the University of Côte d'Azur this academic year 2019/2020.
