La Disparition

Based on George Perec’s La Disparition, this photo-novel for narrator, percussion, prepared piano, electronics and photography is a total-immersion investigative mystery into a thrilling and labyrinthian world.

At the centre of the stage, a narrator recounts the final moments of Anton Voyl, who struggles to find an unattainable element: E (like the lipogram on which Perec’s novel is based). Two musicians accompany him, each unaware of the character or evocation of their environment. The music supports the story, sheds light on it, then alienates it and takes its place, in an incessant dialogue. Photo projections unveil the mystery like pieces of a giant puzzle – like those Perec used in his literature. The result is a story of crippled emptiness in which each spectator can find their place. The photo-novel, an usual and original format, engulfs everyone in the dark hallucinations of a hard-boiled detective story.

Production Cie Operatic

Photo-novel based on the work of Georges Perec
Directing, adaptation and staging Luc Birraux 

Music Kevin Juillerat
Photography Margaux Opinel

Piano Cédric Pescia
Percussion Julien Mégroz
Actor Michaël Comte 

Sound artist Robert Torche