Shows about washhouses

A danced and musical aside lasting 20 minutes, based on the words gathered from people who knew a washhouse in its original function, through anecdotes or any other related memory.

"Être et La Voir", a simple and short piece performed exclusively in a washhouse, elegantly and subtly brings this space back to life: an opening to opera through the cello that clothes the lapping of the water in deep notes, the rustling of a tutu recalling the fabric of the skirts, and the scene is set for young and old alike to rediscover these magnificent places.

A call to contemplation, to smiling, to nostalgia, in no way folkloric, it aims to be a transmission of memories and of the usefulness of the place; intergenerational, it offers the elderly the chance to speak and be heard, and the town the chance to bring its fragile heritage back to life.

Places of life, places of words and work: along the water, words flow while the washerwomen carry out the ritualised gestures of washing. Today the washerwomen's song has fallen silent, and the beetles no longer set the rhythm of their work; taking over these memory-laden places seemed fascinating to us in many respects: the particular architecture of the washhouse, and the presence of running water, offer an unusual stage setting.

Accounts and testimonies of a know-how, set to words, music and movement. At night, the washhouse becomes a place of perdition; the washerwomen of the night become the washers of death: thaumaturges performing strange rites in this extraordinary place.

The first part gathers the testimony of the washerwomen of the town or village where the performance takes place; collection work carried out beforehand.

This short piece reveals a strong, striking, violent and highly visual social world. Three women wash their dirty laundry, literally and figuratively. It is their lot: the beetles, the grey soap, the wrung linen, the running water, summer and winter, the words that wound.

The gossips let loose there, sometimes in veiled terms, speaking of women's matters, of love and betrayal.

A choral show of deep humanity, in which eleven washerwomen express, in Amiens, a universal popular memory.

This patiently matured show, paced by a score on percussion instruments and by songs, full of the warmth of a vibrant humanity, is deeply moving.