Struggling with a chaotic scenic device in perpetual deceleration, playing with the codes of entertainment (a scenic installation consisting of an automated circular curtain and sounds), three (or four) performers make their way towards their own emancipation and celebrate the simplicity of the imperceptible glitter of existence. While passing through hand tricks, pop songs, a tap dance solo, physical prowess or dance, they share their thoughts on the power of beliefs and manipulation and try to deploy an ode to decay in dissonance to the complex, over-informed, ultra-fast, profuse, capitalist and demanding world in which we operate.

"In my previous production - TALK SHOW (2017) -, I approached a naturalistic way of being on stage, a way of playing without playing, in any case without embodying more than the reality of the facts and emotions that flow from it. With Garcimore est mort, this performative state of mind close to the truth will be contrasted by the use of identifiable devices comparable to the codes of entertainment (applause, drum rolls, laughs...). Deeply interested in questioning these codes, I would like to use them for counter-employment, creating a performance that is deliberately off-kilter and far from the usual ploys of the spectacular. (Gaël Santisteva)"

Garcimore est mort premiered on November 18th, 2021 at Le Manège, scène nationale-Reims (FR), in the frame of festival Born to be a live.

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Garcimore est mort - A project by Gaël Santisteva (80', 2021)

Creation and performance: Ondine Cloez, Jani Nuutinen, Gaël Santisteva + 1 surprise guest, alternating: Sophia Rodriguez, Micha Goldberg, Rosie Sommers
Artistic advice: Lara Barsacq
Sound and musical creation: Lieven Dousselaere
Light design : Vic Grevendonk
Costumes design: Sofie Durnez
Stage design: Jérôme Dupraz, Sofie Durnez, Gaël Santisteva
Technical direction: Emma Laroche-Brassié
Lights: Valentin Boucq
Administration & production: Myriam Chekhemani (La chouette diffusion)
Communication & distribution: Quentin Legrand (Rue Branly)
Production: Gilbert & Stock
Coproduction: Le Manège - scène nationale-Reims, Malraux - scène nationale Chambéry Savoie, Le Théâtre d’Arles, Théâtre de Choisy-le-Roi, scène conventionnée d'intérêt national - Art et création pour la diversité linguistique, Les SUBS, CIRCa pôle National Cirque - Auch (FR), Charleroi danse, UP - Circus & Performing Arts (BE)
Residencies: Charleroi danse, UP - Circus & Performing Arts, Centre Culturel Jacques Franck, Kunstenwerkplaats, Latitude 50, Arts Center Buda, Wolubilis - Pôle culturel de Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, Maison de la création (BE), CIRCa pôle national des arts du cirque-Auch, Les SUBS, Théâtre Cinéma de Choisy-le-Roi, Département des Bouches-du-Rhône – Centre départemental de créations en résidence (FR)
With the support of Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Wallonie-Bruxelles International, Sabam for Culture and SACD

Gaël Santisteva is an associate artist at the Théâtre national Wallonie-Bruxelles (2027–2031).

Photos © Stanislav Dobak

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[ Review ] "Playing with the codes of circus, Gaël Santisteva and his team take a lucid look at society and the world of entertainment. Hilarious ! […] Some shows can turn upside down everything you knew about writing, the dramatic stakes, the aesthetics, the requirement… Shows from which you come out hilarious, but totally disoriented. Garcimore est mort is one of those."
Anne Quentin, Théâtre(s), Summer 2022

[ Review ] "At the edge of performance, dance and circus, Gaël Santisteva signs with Garcimore est mort a hybrid piece whose comicalism mixed with depth gently addresses important and unfathomable questions. [...] Wigs and sequins, skates and slippers, automated curtains and tap dancing, songs and prowess, hypnosis and confidences: Garcimore est mort turns three little magic tricks into the material of a derisory that lasts. A crunchy treat whose flavor you won't soon forget."
Marie Baudet, La Libre Belgique, 19.03.22

[ Interview ] "Pursuing his enterprise of deconstruction of the spectacular, [Gaël Santisteva] puts himself on stage with three performers in a piece which, in its very dramaturgy, tends towards sobriety, slowing down. Collective writing on the set, improvisations on the wire, pop and absurd aesthetics are the building blocks of a "meta-performance" that plays with itself. Gaël Santisteva signs here a eulogy of the useless, of doubt as a way and of fun as a remedy."
Interview with Mélanie Jouen, Ma Culture, 07.03.22