Interview of Aurélien Bory
by Stéphane Boitel, published in Le Journal du Théâtre Garonne, January 2003

Plan B?

Aurélien Bory. –  An expression used mainly in whodunits and action films. You go on to plan B when plan A didn’t work. I enjoy all that enormously: building up a plan, providing a spare one, in the knowledge that if that also fails, there will be no “plan C”. The characters of Plan B are in that state of mind, action, hope, fragility. Alone with their plans…  

Ground plan?

A. B. – Plan B is the second spectacle of a trilogy, which combines juggling and acrobatics with space constraints. In JUI, the work on the cube, the volume, had revealed the rhythm and musicality of juggling and offered a different perception of this discipline: instead of displaying it, approaching it from its visual side, we proposed listening to it. With Plan B, it’s the plan we explore. Which puts the scenography at the centre of our work. This special geometry requires a certain reference to movement and acrobatics, in a tenuous link with the laws of physics. We attempt to incorporate it in the broadest possible way, and to perceive what dreams, qualities, dangers are concealed behind this dialogue with gravity.  

Plan sequence?

A. B. – Decomposition of movement reminds us of the cinema and of photography, for example the work of Muybridge or Marey – who in fact took a great interest in acrobatics. For the cinema, I would cite Méliès, who used cinematic artifices for the purposes of magic and illusion. We pay tribute to him in Plan B, except that with us, the artifice doesn’t disappear behind the illusion: on the contrary, it’s rather a question of revealing the device, underlining its simplicity, the paucity of technical resources, and only using its poetical content. Different episodes of the show are inspired by the cinema, citing Keaton for example, who remains the actor’s reference, in the sense that his work consisted in adopting several artistic practices. We are fond of this approach: bringing together on the stage music, acrobatics, juggling and dance, as means of doing our job as actors. 

Plan of attack?

A. B. – Basically, my role was to design and construct Plan B, then bring together the artistic team. Light and sound are very important in our shows. The actors are acrobats, jugglers, musicians in one. They all create the entire artistic material based on the constraints of the show, in particular the scenography. Each member of the team is responsible for their own work, develops their own scenic style, while trying to connect it with their internal universe. This produces a fragmented style, which Phil Soltanoff bases himself on to develop the staging. His presence is very important, not only for the show, but also for each one of us.

After studies in physics, Aurélien Bory worked in the field of architectural acoustics before dedicating himself to theatre arts.
He has been the director of compagnie 111, located in Toulouse, since  2000 and he works with many collaborators. He develops physical theatre –  using space and the body – and creates multi-faceted works crossing  boundaries between various disciplines – circus, dance, music and visual  arts. From La trilogie sur l’espace (Space trilogy), and more specifically Plan B, famed for the collaboration with the New-Yorker Phil Soltanoff, to Je me souviens Le Ciel est loin la terre aussi (I remember Heaven is far away the Earth as well, 2019) created with Mladen Materic, not to mention Espæce (2016) shown at the 70th Avignon Festival or even aSH  (2018) created at the Montpellier Dance festival for the dancer  Shantala Shivaligappa, Compagnie 111 now has a repertoire of seventeen  shows, presented at large festivals and on the most prestigious  international stages. Aurélien Bory did the stage direction and  scenography for La disparition du paysage (The disappearance of the landscape),  a new text by Jean-Philippe Toussaint personified by Denis Podalydès  from autumn 2021 in Paris. In 2022, Aurélien Bory directed and  scenographied Dafne, opera-madrigal inspired by a work from  Heinrich Schütz, collaborating with the vocal group Les Cris de Paris –  Geoffroy Jourdain. The show is created at the Athénée Théâtre  Louis-Jouvet in Paris.
The remarkable care that Aurélien Bory takes over the scenography can also be seen in the sets he designs, which are often connected to a space, like in Spectacula produced in 2015 for the Théâtre  Graslin in Nantes, TROBO in 2019 for the Cité des Sciences et de  l’Industrie in Paris, and Garonne in 2020 for the Théâtre Garonne in  Toulouse.
Aurélien Bory also stages operas. Orpheus and Eurydice in 2018 and Parsifal in 2020 are some of his productions.

Source: Company 111 's website

More information : cie111.com