20November2025
Show: Specimen
The Thursday 20 November at 20 a.m30
Théâtre et Cinéma Le Bordeau 18 rue de Genève 01630 Saint-Genis-Pouilly
An incisive work where reality and imagination intertwine to take viewers on a fantastic journey spanning 3.8 billion years, from the origins of life on Earth to the present day.
Gwendoline Soublin wrote Spécimen between 2019 and 2021 as a long dramatic poem, motivated by a desire to explore prehistory and the evolution of species.
Lucy Afarensis, 46, works in the fish and seafood section of a large supermarket. The day her boss humiliates her, something goes wrong in time and space, sending her on a journey back in time, a chase during which she will make extraordinary encounters and discoveries. For example, she arrives at a disused Amazon warehouse inhabited by strange hominids, dives into a lake ruled by a Mosasaurus, a mythical aquatic proto-reptile… until she returns to the here and now.
This story plunges us into an intimate epic, the kind that transforms us deeply and causes a change in our point of view and perspective. It is a moment in life when everything is called into question, when you have to hit rock bottom in order to climb out of the abyss and find yourself transformed and enhanced.
For this show, Emilie Flacher and her team have created a stage set that combines acting and puppetry to take us from one layer to another. Exploring the ancient technique of long-string puppetry, combined with theatrical machinery, the invisible puppeteers bring different prehistoric worlds to life. Playing with scale and shifting from the macro to the micro, they allow us to experience this unique story as a chorus, revealing its universal nature: we are all Lucy Afarensis stuck in a layer of time and we are all specimens open to other possible worlds…
Spécimen – Cie Arnica
Distribution:
– Writing: Gwendoline Soublin, Editions Espaces 34
– Direction & design: Emilie Flacher
– Artistic collaboration: Philippe Rodriguez Jorda and Réjane Bajard
– String puppet specialist: Liviu Berehoi
– Puppet design: Judith Dubois and Emilie Flacher
– Stage management & design/construction: Pierre Josserand
– Set design: Kristelle Paré
– Lighting design: Julie-Lola Lanteri
– Sound design: Emilie Mousset
– Costume design: Florie Bel
– Construction: Atelier La Chignole, Clément Kaminski, Pierre Josserand and Bertrand Boulanger
– Puppet creation: Judith Dubois, Priscile du Manoir and Florie Bel
– Puppeteers: Philippe Rodriguez-Jorda, Hélène Hudovernik, Faustine Lancel & Maïa Lefourn
– Sound technician: Lionel Thomas or Julien Alenda (alternating)
– Lighting technician: Pierre Josserand
– Administration: Lila Boudiaf
– Production: Cécile Chastang
– Logistics and cultural activities: Elodie Baillet
Lucy Afarensis, 46, works in the fish and seafood section of a large supermarket. The day her boss humiliates her, something goes wrong in time and space, sending her on a journey back in time, a chase during which she will make extraordinary encounters and discoveries. For example, she arrives at a disused Amazon warehouse inhabited by strange hominids, dives into a lake ruled by a Mosasaurus, a mythical aquatic proto-reptile… until she returns to the here and now.
This story plunges us into an intimate epic, the kind that transforms us deeply and causes a change in our point of view and perspective. It is a moment in life when everything is called into question, when you have to hit rock bottom in order to climb out of the abyss and find yourself transformed and enhanced.
For this show, Emilie Flacher and her team have created a stage set that combines acting and puppetry to take us from one layer to another. Exploring the ancient technique of long-string puppetry, combined with theatrical machinery, the invisible puppeteers bring different prehistoric worlds to life. Playing with scale and shifting from the macro to the micro, they allow us to experience this unique story as a chorus, revealing its universal nature: we are all Lucy Afarensis stuck in a layer of time and we are all specimens open to other possible worlds…
Spécimen – Cie Arnica
Distribution:
– Writing: Gwendoline Soublin, Editions Espaces 34
– Direction & design: Emilie Flacher
– Artistic collaboration: Philippe Rodriguez Jorda and Réjane Bajard
– String puppet specialist: Liviu Berehoi
– Puppet design: Judith Dubois and Emilie Flacher
– Stage management & design/construction: Pierre Josserand
– Set design: Kristelle Paré
– Lighting design: Julie-Lola Lanteri
– Sound design: Emilie Mousset
– Costume design: Florie Bel
– Construction: Atelier La Chignole, Clément Kaminski, Pierre Josserand and Bertrand Boulanger
– Puppet creation: Judith Dubois, Priscile du Manoir and Florie Bel
– Puppeteers: Philippe Rodriguez-Jorda, Hélène Hudovernik, Faustine Lancel & Maïa Lefourn
– Sound technician: Lionel Thomas or Julien Alenda (alternating)
– Lighting technician: Pierre Josserand
– Administration: Lila Boudiaf
– Production: Cécile Chastang
– Logistics and cultural activities: Elodie Baillet
Themes
- Puppet
All dates and times
| Opening hours on 20 November 2025 | |
|---|---|
| Thursday | Open from 08:30 pm to 10:00 pm |
