• Photo: Christophe Raynaud de Lage

  • Photo: Christophe Raynaud de Lage

  • Photo: Christophe Raynaud de Lage

  • Photo: Christophe Raynaud de Lage

Shadows Cast

Raphaëlle Boitel
French

“ When I was little, I would often have the same dream. 

… There were even trees, and you could ask them anything you wanted. 

… As long as you promised you’d keep it a secret.” 

K is an energetic but wounded young woman. One day, she decides to talk to her father so she can finally move on with her life. But he doesn’t want to break his long silence. She will have to get other family members involved. 

But things won’t turn out exactly how she planned… 

  • Raphaëlle Boitel Biography

    Director and choreographer, Raphaëlle Boitel was born in 1984 and began acting at the age of six. Spotted by Annie Fratellini, Raphaëlle joined the Ecole Nationale des Arts du Cirque Fratellini in 1992. From 1998 to 2010, she worked with James Thierrée and performed most notably in La Symphonie du Hanneton and La Veillée des Abysses. In addition to working with Thierrée, she performed in theatre plays, films, participated in events (Jean-François Zygel), appeared in music videos and performed in various cabarets in New York, Miami and London.

    In 2012, Raphaëlle performed in Géométrie de Caoutchouc by Aurélien Bory and also founded her own company and started working on her first show. In 2013, she directed her first piece, Consolations, with three performers who graduated from the Fratellini Academy. She also choreographed the opera Macbeth directed by Gorgio Barberio Corsetti at La Scala in Milan. In 2014, she created L’Oublié(e) a large-scale piece of “circus theatre” and in 2015, Fierce 5, a tribute to the circus.

    In 2017, Raphaëlle wrote and performed a short form solo La Bête Noire, a metaphor for her past as a contortionist. In 2018, she created When Angel Fall, a large-scale theatre piece. In 2019, Opera National de Bordeaux commissioned an outdoor piece, Horizon, to coincide with the cultural season Liberté! Bordeaux 2019. In 2020, she created Un Contre Un, a family show. In December 2020, Boitel directed Le Cycle de L’Absurde, the graduation piece of the 32nd CNAC (Centre National des Arts du Cirque) promotion. 

  • Company Biography

    Director and choreograph Raphaëlle Boitel created Cie l’Oublié(e) in 2012. It is rooted in circus arts and includes elements of theatre, dance, visual arts, and cinema. 

    The company has created a unique language that combines physical theatre, choreography and acrobatics based on the connection between performers and mental or instinctive processes. 

    The company’s language is also highly visual and inspired by visual arts and cinema. 

    The company’s work tackle recurring themes such as solidarity, perseverance, animality, human relationships, engagement, moments of grace, letting go, challenging oneself. 

    The shows make the most of the three dimensions of space: performers inhabit the floor and the air. Each project is an opportunity to combine new artforms, create new circus apparatus or combine different acrobatic skills. 

    Tristan Baudoin: artistic collaborator, lighting and set design 

    Arthur Bison: original music 

    Repertoire:

    L’Oublié(e)/ The Forgotten – 2014 

    5es Hurlants/ Fierce 5- 2015 

    La Bête noire/ The Black Beast – 2017 

    La Chute des Anges / When Angels fall- 2018 

    Horizon – 2019 

    Un Contre Un/ One Versus One- 2020 

    Le Cycle de l’Absurde (pour le CNAC) – 2020 

    Ombres portées/Shadows Cast – 2021