MimeLondon 2025
Flawless, funny and seriously scary, this might possibly be the best show of the year.Summary
Rating
Unmissable!
It’s the first week of February and I may just have seen the best show of the year already. Dimanche, presented by Compagnie Focus & Chaliwaté and part of MimeLondon, is an exceptional, flawlessly executed production that examines the human determination to ignore the climate crisis. The show is infeasibly immersive and emotive – hugely funny, but insistently disruptive. It challenges complacency, spelling out the consequences of inaction against climate change through humour, beautifully poetic physical performance, and brutal truth.
In a future a mere heartbeat away, a crew of reporters set off on a roadtrip to the frozen wastes, documenting the effects of climate change. Elsewhere, a family doggedly pursues normality while ignoring the environmental devastation occurring around them. From gorgeously cuddly polar bears and adorable little old ladies, to a questionable roast dinner, numerous ingenious devices are offered to brilliantly entertain but also give insight on our human relationship with our environment. In its exceptional quality, the production cleverly celebrates the human capacity for limitless innovation, whilst suggesting we might apply these skills more positively.
I can’t begin to describe how skilfully staged this production is, slickly moving between stories where even the darkness of a scene change gives pause to question normality. Imaginative set design takes us on a journey from ice fields to a domestic home where we’re wholly enveloped in the effects of climate change, as the world wilts before being overwhelmed by extreme weather. Throughout this, the actors determinedly behave as if nothing is happening. Normality and absurdity are juxtaposed, screaming a message of self-perpetuated danger. Throughout, the superb soundscape is resonant and physically affective, using songs such as “Slip Slidin’ Away” that have us joining in, bopping along, yet are bitterly ironic.
Humans are defined as an active part of a fragile landscape, using exquisite body work to physically integrate performers into the set. The actors themselves are enormously talented, working in synchronisation and absolute precision; their persuasive humanity is a joy to watch. This immense skill then speaks to the possibility of human achievement, underscoring that we have it in ourselves to apply our determination to saving the world instead of using our energies to steadfastly ignore imminent danger.
Beautifully crafted puppets are performed with exceptional observation and characterisation. From the cute polar bear cub to the endearing little old lady and her stair lift, they are funny, recognisable and believable, engaging the audience emotionally in order to create a huge shock when climate change hits. A flamingo is supported in flight on the helmet of a performer, a series of flitting hands becoming fish in the darkness of a world overwhelmed with water: again, humanity is tangibly connected with nature. We vividly experience extreme emotion as loss and death are woven forthrightly into an otherwise witty and playful atmosphere, and the reality of what occurs is brutal, immediate and chilling.
Projected sections allow us to move from detail to a bigger picture, revealing a world in catastrophe with humans and animals alike impacted, and always clearly connecting the impact of complacency. Repeatedly we see a battery going flat, as time runs out. At times, Dimanche has a haunting, cinematic quality that gives a dreamlike aspect to the narrative. Perhaps there’s time for us to wake up and make change?
This is a visually breathtaking but wordless work, made universally understandable for an audience of all ages. The title, Dimanche, is a translation of the French for ‘Sunday’. This can be a day of rest, where we choose to do nothing. It can also be the final day of the week: a last chance to make change before it’s too late.
Screenplay and directed by: Julie Tenret, Sicaire Durieux, Sandrine Heyraud
Dramaturgy by: Alana Osbourne
Stage design by: Zoé Tenret
Puppets created by: Waw ! Studios / Joachim Jannin and Jean-Raymond Brassinne
Light design: Guillaume Toussaint Fromentin
Sound design: Brice Cannavo
Video: Tristan Galand
Costumes: Fanny Boizard
Dimanche has completed its run as part of MimeLondon 2025.