Oh c'est quoi ça ?

Accompanied by luminous objects, two performers take children on an exploratory journey through the sounds and movements of speech. The show unfolds through a succession of activities, recognizable by their musicality in any language. Playing with children's capacity for wonder, the show frees itself from the conventional linear narrative to present a kind of concert in which words offer a multitude of sounds and turn into building blocks for composing musical scores.

“Oh, what’s that?” - which child has not said these words when encountering a new event or object? Whether they have begun to speak or not, toddlers and young children’s natural curiosity, openness and attentiveness to everything around them is limitless. Whether they are asking for something, describing a scene, telling a story, interacting with animals or simulating battles, language is an entry point to the simple events that make up their world. As they learn to produce and repeat sounds over and over again just for the sheer pleasure of it, the discovery and use of language also becomes an opportunity to explore their physical body and vocal instrument. This show echoes these qualities of wonder and delight at recognizing, questioning and reproducing sounds.

A vibrant, luminous set design accompanies the sounds to bring speech to life on stage or to draw out an emotion using different colours. Deploying their bodies and voices through the space, the actors develop a dynamic soundscape and create a choreographed spectacle that oscillates between representing ordinary and extraordinary situations. An immersive interplay between sounds, colours and movement which is intimately tied to the speech and sound recordings that were used to compose the show.

Conception Encyclopédie de la parole

Composition Nicolas Rollet

Direction Raffaella Gardon

With Daniel Collados Blasco et Raffaella Gardon

Dramaturgy Caroline Masini

Stage design Antonin Heck

Light design Jérôme Dejean

Costumes Caroline Denquin

Choreography Inés Hernández

Technical management on tour Alice Marin or Marie-Jeanne Assayag Lion

Administration and production Edwige Dousset

Production and distribution Garance Crouillère

Tours Solène Lemoine

Production Echelle 1:1 (company subsidized by the Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication / DRAC Île-de-France and by the Conseil régional d'île-de-France)

Coproduction Théâtre Nouvelle Génération CDN - Lyon, Am Stram Gram - Centre international de création, partenaire de l'enfance et la jeunesse - Genève, Théâtre Molière de Sète - scène nationale Archipel de Thau, Théâtre Paris Villette, Le Sémaphore Théâtre Port-de-Bouc, Théâtre d’Angoulême - scène nationale, Théâtre L’Eclat Pont-Audemer, Le Volcan - Scène nationale du Havre

With the support of La Couveuse 2024, City of Gennevilliers and Théâtre Paris-Villette

This text was a laureate for the National Funding for Assisting the Creation of Dramatic Texts -Artcena

Duration 38 minutes

Administration, production & distribution Edwige Dousset - +33 (0)6 13 43 11 29 -administration@echelle1-1.org