About Dimanche

Between dreamlike fiction and factual reality, Dimanche paints a witty and tender portrait of humanity surprised by the uncontrollable forces of nature.

As is its tradition, a family is about to spend Sunday together. But the walls are shaking, strong winds and torrential rain rage outside and the storm has only just begun. Amidst this climatic chaos, the protagonists absurdly attempt to maintain routine and normal family life. Dimanche observes the ingenuity and stubbornness of humans as they try to preserve their day-to-day habits, going to comical extremes to maintain a sense of normalcy despite the chaos of ecological collapse.

Meanwhile, three travelling wildlife reporters are doing their best to document the apocalypse. They film, with what little equipment they have, Earth’s last living species: three wild animals on the brink of extinction.

About Compagnie Focus, Chaliwaté & MimeLondon

Directed by Julie Tenret, who graduated from INSAS (Belgium’s film and drama school), Compagnie Focus from Brussels creates shows combining theatre of objects, puppets, actors and video. The scenic language she uses is essentially visual, metaphorical, poetic, artisanal and very close to a cinematographic writing. Her shows are aimed to all audiences and deal with social issues starting from the intimate, the infra-ordinary reaching to the universal.

Trained in movement arts, Sicaire Durieux and Sandrine Heyraud created Chaliwaté company in 2005. Based in Brussels, they champion a visual language without words. Poetic, physical and artisanal, it combines gestural theatre, object theatre, circus and dance. For them, gesture is a singular means of creating evocative, suggestive and metaphorical images.

Compagnie Focus and Chaliwaté came together to create a collective performance in 2016. For a long time they had been following and admiring each other’s work and it was obvious that they shared a common taste for unusual theatrical forms. They spoke the same visual, artisanal and poetic language.

MimeLondon is an occasional series of curated international physical and visual theatre, promoting work that’s edgy and unusual, created and performed by exceptional artists. As well as performance and film, it offers a range of specialist workshops led by experts in their fields.

MimeLondon is led by Helen Lannaghan and Joseph Seelig, foremerly directors of London International Mime Festival (LIMF) which ended in 2023 after five decades of award-winning success.

Artistic Team & Credits

Written and directed by Julie Tenret, Sicaire Durieux, Sandrine Heyraud
With Julie Tenret, Sicaire Durieux, Sandrine Heyraud
Dramaturgy Alana Osbourne
Scenography Zoé Tenret
Stage Set Construction Zoé Tenret, Bruno Mortaignie (LS Diffusion), Sébastien Boucherit and Sebastien Munck
Puppets Creators Waw ! Studios / Joachim Jannin et Jean-Raymond Brassinne
Puppet Assistant Creators Emmanuel Chessa, Aurélie Deloche and Gaëlle Marras
Lights Guillaume Toussaint Fromentin
Sound Brice Cannavo
Video Tristan Galand
1st AC Alexandre Cabanne
Key Grip Hatuey Suarez
Underwater Filming Alexandra Brixy
TV News Filming Tom Gineyts
Post-production Videos Paul Jadoul
Video Set Construction Zoé Tenret and Sébastien Munck
Video Sound Jeff Levillain (Studio Chocolat-noisette) and Roland Voglaire (Boxon Studio)
Costumes Fanny Boizard
General Stage Management Léonard Clarys
Stage Management Leonard Clarys, Nicolas Ghion & David Alonso Morillo
Tour Manager Chiara Christoffersen
Tour Booking Carolina Ortega at Aurora Nova

Presented in association with MimeLondon

Un spectacle des compagnies Focus et Chaliwaté, en coproduction avec le Théâtre Les Tanneurs, le Théâtre de Namur, la Maison de la Culture de Tournai/Maison de la création, le Sablier – Ifs (FR), Arts and Ideas New Haven (Etats-Unis), Adelaïde Festival (Australie), Auckland Arts Festival (Nouvelle-Zélande), Théâtre Victor Hugo de Bagneux, Scène des Arts du Geste / EPT Vallée Sud Grand Paris et La Coop asbl | Avec le soutien de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles – Service du Cirque, des Arts Forains et de la Rue et de la Loterie Nationale, de Wallonie Bruxelles International (WBI), de la Bourse du CAPT, de la Commission Communautaire Française, de Shelterprod, du Taxshelter.be, ING et du Tax-Shelter du gouvernement fédéral belge | Avec l’aide de Escale du Nord – Centre Culturel d’Anderlecht, Centre de la Marionnette de Tournai, La Roseraie, Latitude 50 – Pôle des Arts du Cirque et de la Rue, Espace Catastrophe, Centre Culturel Jacques Franck, Maison de la Culture Famenne-Ardennes, Centre Culturel d’Eupen, La Vénerie, Le Centre Culturel de Braine l’Alleud, Le Royal Festival de Spa, Le Théâtre Marni, L’Escaut, Bronks, AD LIB Diffusion, AD LIB Production : Résidences au Libitum, LookIN’out et le Festival XS.

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