Photo : Follow Me © Augustin Le Gall Haytham
New Work
Follow Me
Maud Jégard / Queen Mother
(France)
Urban discovery and encounters by sms
From the age of 13
Like Juhyung Lee (C'est pas là, c’est par là), Rennes-based actress and director Maud Jegard is a recent graduate of the FAI-AR school of art in public space in Marseille. With Follow Me, she gives us the first street-performance version of what was her final year project, already sketched out in an early form with the artist Boueb under the title Au bout du fil. This participatory experience, which only uses text-message language and writing style, creates encounters and a remotely-guided rediscovery of the city of Rennes, using objects, signs, markers and rendezvous points to create a secretive theatrical community of 40 people making their way through the town.

Follow Me is based on the exclusive use of SMS technology to make contact, discuss, write and share with a stranger, and to move individually through the town. Inspired by a long process of research, the performance brings the stage right into the town itself, creating a virtual conversation focusing on individual spectators, who eventually find themselves to be part of a connected community of 40 participants or actors. This is no value judgement on the use of smartphones in today’s hyper-connected world. Rather, Maud Jegard uses this modern means of communication in a poetic, dramatic way to create a show and a new perspective, using coincidence and artistic encounters in our cities.

When the participants reach the end of the Follow Me trail, they don’t find resolution, but an invitation to carry the experience on – an experiment that will have left memories throughout the town: “traces and bubbles on the walls”. Drawing on her long experience in theatre theory and her work as an actress and director, Maud Jegard’s creation combines installation art, virtual illusions, acting, writing, a guided tour and the use of public space. This sensory experience raises many questions, without seeking to predetermine the answers.

Registration at the ticket office of the festival (until the day before the performance) • Remember to recharge your phone to follow the experience

BIOGRAPHY

Maud Jégard was born in 1972 and discovered drama with members of the Brittany National Theatre while working on her baccalaureate with a specialty in drama, in Rennes. During the 2000s she took part in many public space performances, both as an actress (Frankenstein et Boîtes de rue at Jo Bithume, Doña Flor y sus amores at NCNC/Prisca Villa) and as a director (L’Erotik by Nejma Cie, Prince à dénuder by Ocus, Hop by Fracasse de 12). Since 2012, she has been working with actor, musician and director Boueb (Stéphane Guiral), who also trained at FAI-AR, as part of the “Les grands moyens” collective (Grève du crime, Abri voyageur, etc.). They worked together during the training course in Marseille on an early version of Au bout du fil, which ended up becoming Follow Me. In 2019, for this network-based fantasy show which invites co-writing in text-message language, she has established and structured her own company, Queen Mother, with the support of Le Fourneau (Brest) and Les Tombées de la Nuit (Rennes).

DISTRIBUTION

Concept, réalisation, écriture et mise en scène : Maud Jégard.
Textauteurs et textautrices : Ronan Mancec, Claire Laurent, Valentine Ponçon, Laurent Driss, Thomas Collet et Maud Jégard
Scénographie : Valentine Ponçon et Alice Ruffini
Régie technique : Christophe Nozeran
Développeur : Olivier Radisson

Friday 05 July 2019
12:30 > 14:00
Centre ville de Rennes
Friday 05 July 2019
18:00 > 19:30
Centre ville de Rennes
Saturday 06 July 2019
12:30 > 14:00
Centre ville de Rennes
Saturday 06 July 2019
18:00 > 19:30
Centre ville de Rennes

1h30
Free
Station de Métro : République • Lignes de Bus : Toutes les lignes desservant le centre-ville, arrêt République • Station Vélo : République

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SUR LE MÊME SUJET
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The association is supported by the City of Rennes, the Brittany Region, the Ille-et-Vilaine Department & the ministry of culture.

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