EL CAMINO is an artistic intervention sensitive to the territory, its landscape and the historical memory of the Herault region that Kamchatka Company created especially to accompany a day-long hike called ‘La Barrula’, which is programmed by the Le Sillon theater in Clermont l'Hérault.
Project Description
The path is paved by the steps of those who tread it. It absorbs these steps, but also the stories and lives of those who walk it. The earth they trod, the trees in whose shade they rested, the rivers where they drank, the shelters where they shared their bread, preserve precisely these fragments of life, these memories... The slowness of walking will help us to cross time and to penetrate the memory of the path, of these paths that are being built under the footsteps of humanity'.
For its project: 'La Barrula du Sillon', 3 days of hikes blended in with theater in natural environment, the 'Le Sillon' theater in Clermont l'Herault, invited the Kamchàtka company to create a proposal around the theme of immigration and with its unique language to accompany a day-long walk with a series of interventions in landscapes between vineyards, mills and the banks of the river Hérault.
The participation of a dozen local residents as extras, the integration of material taken from the local historical archive on the Spanish ‘Retirada’ and the concentration camps of Spanish refugees in the area, the surprising play with nature and landscape as a dramatic element, the creation of unexpected images in the distance, the adaptation and use of local sites as performance locations and a very intimate and welcoming complicity and playfulness that was created with an audience of 200 people during the 8-hour journey, through more than 14km of walking (including a picnic where the actors ate with the audience in character, acting and playing with them) all this resulted in a uniquely moving event that resonated past times and stories, so pertinent to this region, and left no one indifferent.
Recap Of The Project
Title: EL CAMINO (Distant memories yet so near)
Commissioned by: Théâtre Le Sillon
Format: Numerous theatrical interventions during an 8 hour long hike in nature
Dates: September 25th 2021
Place: Clermont l'Hérault (France)
Kamchàtka is an artist collective of diverse nationalities and disciplines who’s members first met in Barcelona in 2006. Driven by the same interests and concerns and under the artistic direction of Adrian Schvarzstein, they started training intensely in group improvisation on the streets of Barcelona and researched the subject of immigration. Barcelona… an ideal city for confronting a society laden with contradictions and immersed in profound problems of integration.
Since 2007, they have created their own poetic language around a trilogy on human migration - Kamchàtka (2007), Habitaculum (2010) and Fugit (2014) and have been performing in more than 30 different countries in Europe, Asia and the Americas.
Their latest creation Alter (2021) is a site specific performance which is intimately linked to the landscape and to interaction with the audience.
In 2023 and 2024 Kamchàtka is working on two special site specific projects which take place in the South of France.
The company also offers the Migrar workshop, a unique human experience around the Kamchàtka performance, for the inhabitants of your city, as well as an indoor production with a Symphony Orchestra of your choice - Music for wild beasts - an approach to classical music for all audiences.
Actors
Cristina Aguirre, Maïka Eggericx, Claudio Levati, Andrea Lorenzetti, Lluís Petit, Edu Rodilla, Santi Rovira, Gary Shochat, Prisca Villa
Artistic Coordination
Gary Shochat, Andrea Lorenzetti
Production
CARRER88, SL accompanied by Melando
Special Thanks to
To the volunteering participants who joined us to create this human beauty.
To Jérome Devaud for his total dedication, humbleness and human greatness.
To the Le Sillon team for their support and trust
