THE NIGHT THE DAY DAWNED

In the early 80s, Suzanne travels to Brazil. Encounters and discoveries led her to a convent in the middle of the desert. Here, the nuns welcome pregnant women to give birth in safety and dignity. Suzanne stays with them for a few days. One night, she attends a birth under X and takes care of the baby. It became clear to her that she couldn't part with the baby. Shaken by this unexpected encounter, Suzanne decides to face up to the unknown and begins a great adventure: adopting this child and returning to France with him. Inspired by real-life events, this theatrical odyssey was born of director Olivier Letellier's desire to explore the subject of commitment: how does that necessary movement come about, that moment when you decide to take the plunge? He made the extraordinary act of an ordinary woman the core of a "laboratory" project around writing for young audiences. The result in 2016 was a creation combining narrative theater and circus, co-written on stage by three authors, Sylvain Levey, Magali Mougel and Catherine Verlaguet. On stage, three men carry this story of motherhood and love, as if to affirm its universality. Taking turns as narrators and characters, they circulate the word between their voices and bodies, and play with the physical engagement and poetic charge of a Cyr wheel, narrating a hectic, moving epic.

Olivier Letellier trained at the École Internationale Jacques Lecoq, where the body in movement is seen as the primary vehicle of expression. He then discovered storytelling through his mentors Gigi Bigot, Abbi Patrix and Pépito Matéo. Later, a meeting with Christian Carrignon confirmed his attraction to the ordinary object as a poetic element in its own right. Using the body, storytelling theater and objects, he develops a language that he constantly cross-fertilizes with other arts. In 2000, he founded the company Le Théâtre du Phare, and since then has developed an ever-closer relationship with texts and living authors, placing writing on stage and collective experimentation at the heart of the creative process. He likes to reflect on what it means to "grow up" throughout one's life, and creates shows that appeal to everyone's childhood, and especially to novice spectators. In 2010, he was awarded the Molière for a show for young audiences for Oh Boy! adaptation of Marie-Aude Murail's book by Catherine Verlaguet. In 2022, Olivier Letellier became director of Tréteaux de FranceCenter Dramatique National itinérant, with a project resolutely focused on youth, joy and the body, supported by contemporary storytelling theater. This "factory of sharing" travels through various territories to meet the public.

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