Archives [working title]

A man alone in an archive centre. His family has fled into exile to escape the war, or something close to it. He has stayed in the hope of saving what seems essential to preserve. Every day, he listens to the voices of a mother and daughter in the Middle East, who are surviving under the bombs; he listens to the voice of his own child, which he recorded before he left; he listens to Les Archives du coeur [The Heart Archives], the work of an artist who has collected the sound of heartbeats around the world. He classifies maps of the world and stories of war, archives hopes for peace and stories of the end of the world told in the Old Testament, organises the history of the scientific revolutions of the 20th century and listens to the masterpieces of 18th century music.

Right up to the moment when someone comes to take his place, and choose for him what, in the new world, we will keep, or what we will erase.

And then one day, the two children, his son and the young girl from the Middle East, will meet in the world that the adults have left them. What will they have to say about the future they hope for, and the present they have inherited?

Archives (working title) will be a reverie, a fragmentary, musical, danced and filmed production. What do we collectively choose to preserve in the face of the dangers that threaten us? Our shared memory, the memory of humanity, is archived around the world. Collectively, we are leaving traces for future generations. What will they do with their legacy? What will they have to tell us?

In a world in crisis, memory is a weapon.

Will protecting it be enough to build a peaceful world?

Produced by
Compagnie Lieux-Dits

Coproduced by (ongoing)
Théâtre-Sénart – Scène nationale, Théâtre des Quartiers d’Ivry -Centre dramatique national du Val-de-Marne, ThéâtredelaCité – CDN Toulouse Occitanie

Compagnie Lieux-Dits is accredited by the Ministère de la Culture – DRAC Ile-de-France and the Val-de-Marne department as part of its development aid.