Navire Amiral – Exposition

As part of the 10th anniversary of the Ateliers des Capucins, discover this exhibition organised in partnership with the Comédie-Française and the French Navy. Ropes, backstage, superimpositions... The gestures and rituals of the French Navy and the Comédie-Française echo each other and feed a common imagination. Through his photographs, Stéphane Lavoué blurs our reference points: are we on stage or on board a ship? In residence with Éric Ruf at the Comédie-Française since 2015, Stéphane Lavoué has multiplied́ projects over ten years at the heart of Molière's house: official portraits of the troupe, a series on the actors' dressing rooms (Les Loges du Français, ed. Gallimard), season posters, long-term work on "servitudes", theatre professions at the service of the stage. During his years in residence in the bowels of the 'flagship' of France's leading public theatre, he had the impression of experiencing an immobile embarkation. Immersed in a windowless building, in the middle of the catwalk stage or perched in the hangers cluttered with cables and bits, he had the sensation of walking the passageways of a frigate and experiencing the patrol of a nuclear submarine. At a time when sailors no longer sailed in winter to avoid danger, they served in theatres. Their knowledge of knots, ropes, pulleys and slings and their ability to manoeuvre quickly and in large numbers in a small space made them perfect machinists. They are the source of many traditions and superstitions that are still very much alive in theatres, as the photographer was able to experience by rubbing shoulders with the crew of the Comédie-Française. The sailors have long since left́ the backstage areas of the Salle Richelieu, but the traditions remain. Stéphane Lavoué was keen to find out whether these traditions were still alive and well on board the ships of the Royale. And if so, in what ways they could help to dramatise the daily lives of the sailors aboard these new-generation military vessels. So he obtained permission to board three emblematic ships of the French fleet. The FREMM la Bretagne, the SNLE Le Téméraire and the aircraft carrier Charles De Gaulle.