Performances > Les Animaux Perdus
Les Animaux Perdus
A lost circus revived in open space
Les Animaux Perdus brings the animal circus back to life.
A contemporary reinterpretation with a playful nod to a vanished circus culture.
In this immersive experience, visitors follow a parcours where poetic visual installations, circus disciplines, and classical music come together — sometimes with a fiery edge.
Along the way, they encounter various circus animals and their trainers in theatrical scenes: a dancing flamingo, a fire-breathing hippo, a sorrowful elephant… and other unexpected figures.
But what is their story?
For all audiences
Max. 4 hours per day
crew: 17 performers
An Open-Air Performance Without a Ring
This creation by De Machienerie breaks with the classical circus format.
No tent. No grandstand. No fixed code.
The audience moves through the space itself, gradually discovering a world that unfolds as a series of living tableaux — each time different, each time in relation to the place and the spectator.
In this way, a wandering performance emerges in which seeing and moving become one.
A Musical and Scenographic Universe
The music is inspired by Le Carnaval des Animaux (1886) by the French composer Camille Saint-Saëns, in which animals are brought to life in a playful and at times lightly ironic musical language.
This musical layer forms a second narrative thread within the parcours and enhances the atmosphere of each individual tableau.
Les Animaux Perdus consists of a series of six scenes spread across a walking route.
Each scene forms its own world within the whole, yet together they build a continuous universe of image, music, and mechanical imagination.
The parcours can be extended with light and fire installations, allowing the work to gain an additional layer in evening contexts.
An ideal experience for those in search of:
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a wandering open-air performance with a parcours structure
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a poetic and visual total experience in public space
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a series of visual scenes with mechanical and theatrical elements
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an audience that actively moves through the space
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a flexible production adapted to site-specific contexts
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a large-scale universe with multiple moments of encounter
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a combination of image, music, and installative dramaturgy
Each step reveals a new image — as if you are moving through a living circus landscape.
Ready to begin the journey?
We would be happy to discuss how this performance could be integrated into your programme, festival, or public context.
Each De Machienerie performance emerges in relation to its location, its audience, and the way the performance unfolds within the space. Together, we look for the right conditions in which the work can fully come into its own.
Leave your details, and we will be happy to explore how this performance could find its place within your programme.
