from the latin “helpless” : Lack of strength, Lack of physical or moral strength to act ; lack of power ; To admit, to confess your helplessness ; To be helpless.

I want to work on limits, conflicts, obstacles, fragilities, weaknesses, on what prevents us to fulfill an objective. I would like to portray on stage the artists’ weaknesses and play with their fear, their demons. I want to use the drama principal stating that emotion is more intense and that we can easily put ourselves in a character’s place when he’s dealing with conflict.

Inops will invite on stage several performers who each excel in his field : acrobat, tightrope artists, teeterboard, etc. The circus artist is constantly in resistance against a force, whether he is hanging in the air, balanced or throwing objects toward the sky. I want to play with what those figures can express and compare them with the battles a social being has to fight.

With Inops, I want to explore Étienne de La Boétie’s concept of voluntary servitude. One part of the analysis that we could make of the book (Discours de la servitude volontaire, 1574) is that resisting gives power to the force we are fighting against. The more I resist it, the more I encourage it.
Today’s social stake seems to be being able to resist an invisible force. The circus keeps playing with this force. I want to link this impossible resistance with our contradictory forces of desire, neglect, the feeling of being defeated and unwilling to act against an unwanted situation.

Distribution
Conception Clément Dazin Performance Antoine Guillaume, Clément Dazin, Ashtar Muallem, Coline Mazurek, Marius Ollagnier and Valentin Verdure Light and stage design Tony Guérin Stage manager Marius Ollagnier Sound design Grégory Adoir Playwright  Guillaume Clayssen Costume design Fanny Vera
Administration, production, distribution La Magnanerie – Victor Leclère, Anne Herrmann, Martin Galamez, Lauréna De la Torre et Sarah Bigot

Producer : La Main de l’Homme Co-producers Plateforme 2 Pôles Cirque en Normandie – La Brèche à Cherbourg et le Cirque-Théâtre d’Elbeuf, Transversales – Scène conventionnée cirque de Verdun, Cirque en Lorraine, Maillon, Théâtre de Strasbourg – Scène européenne, Le Carreau – Scène nationale de Forbach et de l’Est mosellan Residencies Espace Culturel Les Pieux, La MAC – Relais culturel de Bischwiller, La Cascade – PNAC Bourg-Saint-Andéol, Le Safran – Scène conventionnée Amiens Métropole Supported by Ministère de la Culture – DGCA Aide à la création cirque et l’aide à la création de la Région Grand-Est.