MECANIkA (France-Portugal)

What would a theatrical polaroid be? This question guides Paulo Duarte's staging in a show with puppets, shadows, music and video, which takes the photographic technique of Polaroids as its starting point, transposing it, transforming it and questioning on the stage.

A man looks at a family photo of his father, who returned from Brazil to Portugal, under the Salazar dictatorship, of his mother, his siblings and himself, a newborn baby. The picture captures and preserves a moment, a "snapshot", which he rescues from oblivion. It offers the audience a glimpse of memories, disjointed fragments of the past that emerge on the surface of memory. Through imagination and interpretation, the son tries to reconstruct his father's life, his history as an exiled, of which all that remains are the ghostly haloes of the Polaroids.

In Polaroid, the narrative is built by exploring a family album, between lived and fictionalized memory. There are certain dates that provoke a special synergy, as it polarizes a focal point of the story. A fiction that we tell ourselves. Paulo Duarte draws on his father's life and buits the present from pieces of the past.

Memories are crafted by oblivion as the outlines of the shore are created by the sea. (...) In short, oblivion is the life force of memory and remembrance is its product. - Marc Augé

_{"In Polaroid, the great history meets the history of intimacy, because it's a question of filiation, of writing history, but also of immigration or exile. A theme with which the Portuguese are very familiar (...). In order to respond to the challenge of building the present with pieces of the past, we navigate between shadow theatre, video, live music, string puppets, projections, screen manipulation and light effects." - Vincent Pourrageau, Midi Libre}

BIO

The company MECANIkA was founded by the Portuguese puppeteer and builder Paulo Duarte, based in France. MECANIkA’s goal is to develop and explore contemporary puppetry, interacting with other contemporary artistic fields, in a form known as image theatre.

Paulo Duarte is graduated in Painting by Faculdade de Belas-Artes in Oporto University and in Puppet Theatre by ESNAM - École Nationale Superieure des Arts de la Marionnette de Charleville-Mezieres. After the ESNAM he founded with David Girondin Moab the Cie Pseudonymo, which he co-directed until 2006, and he extended his experiences in several areas: set design, acting, direction, design and puppets construction and scenic objects, object theatre. He joined the company LàOù – marionnette contemporaine, dividing the artistic direction with Renaud Herbin and Julika Mayer, from 2007 to 2011. He has worked with Roman Paska, Joan Baixas, Fanfare Mineable, CREA - Théâtre de Tournai, Zaven Paré, Allen Weiis, among others. He directed several training workshops at the Institut del Teatre de Barcelona and in AMK (Turku, Finland). He has been participated as a puppeteer and puppet builder in various artistic projects for other companies, in addition to the development of personal projects. He participated in several editions of FIMFA with: “A Hora do Diabo”, “Deep News”, “Écumes”, “Petites Âmes”, “Deep News #2”, “Pour Bien Dormir” e “Novo”.

CREDITS

_{Creation and performer: Paulo Duarte Text and dramaturgy: Caroline Masini Multimedia artistic collaboration: Thaïs Cellura Sound design: Morgan Daguenet Lighting design: Fabien Bossard Technical direction: Yann Paulin Experimental videos: Aurélie Bonamy, Hugo Germser Dramaturgy assistant: Eva Chevret Technical set design consultant: Christophe Corsini Soldering: Sylvain Esposito Photography: Denise Oliver Fierro, Pedro Sardinha, João Rey Administration: Florent Montanard Prodution and diffusion: Sarah Marchal Coproduction and residency: MA - Scène Nationale Pays de Montbéliard, Le Périscope - Scène Conventionnée Arts de la Marionnette; L’Usinotopie Fabrique des Arts de la Marionnette, La Vignette - Scène Conventionnée Université Paul-Valéry Montpellier, Le Théâtre - Centre National de la Marionnette, MiMA - Festival de Marionnette Actuelle de Mirepoix, FIMP - Festival Internacional de Marionetas do Porto, Théâtre La Vista - La Chapelle, Le Printemps des Comédiens - dispositif Warm-Up, Studio Libre/ Atelier de décors du Théâtre des 13 Vents, Théâtre d’O Support: Département de l’Hérault, DRAC Occitanie, Région Occitanie, Ville de Montpellier, Spedidam} 

_{www.mecanika.net}