Press Review.
Giles Renault
Thus, during this “Crossing of Appearances” (…) one stumbles upon Killing Alice, a lively collection of phantasmagorical, if not creepy, installations designed by Violaine Fimbel and Marjan Kunaver. A 2017 creation, originally intended for the show Possession, which recounted how Antonin Artaud, discovering Alice on the other side of the mirror, accused Lewis Carroll of having plagiarized him “in anticipation” (sic).
With one foot on stage and the other in a workshop, Violaine Fimbel hesitates when asked where she stands exactly: "I consider myself both a puppeteer and a visual artist, who has made a pact with magic, intuitively at first, then in a more structured way, when I joined the 10th class of the CNAC (in New Magic). However, it is still not easy for me to put words to an artistic language which, in my case, from wonder to fear, essentially revolves around dreams."
"I believe we need to reconnect with ambiguous forms. / Those that cannot be explained, but are experienced. / Presences that disturb without shouting."
Violaine Fimbel
Excerpt from the article by Violaine Fimbel
page 21
Cristina Marino
In Violaine Fimbel's Wonderland
Entering the Yokaï company's workshop on Rue Pierre-Gillet, not far from the Place Ducale, is like embarking on a journey into the strange universe of artist Violaine Fimbel, populated by unsettling creatures like this animated Alice with blue eyes that suddenly fill with black tears and whose face is eventually covered by a grimacing mask (a symbol of the contamination of Lewis Carroll's universe by that of Antonin Artaud, at the heart of the performance Possession). Upon graduating from the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts de la Marionnette (Esnam, 9th class, 2011-2014), diploma in hand, in October 2014, this young puppeteer and visual artist (and soon-to-be magician as well, having undertaken training in new magic at the Centre National des Arts du Cirque) decided to found her own company, named Yokaï, a Japanese term for a monster, and more broadly, a supernatural phenomenon, or anything that is not human.
Originally from the Charleville-Mézières region, she chose to settle there to develop her creations, already numbering three, all placed under the sign of an "uncanny strangeness": Volatil(e)s, Possession and Gimme Shelter (currently being written from an initial short version, Noctarium, and whose full premiere is planned for the 20th edition of FMTM in September 2019). In this former music shop, Violaine Fimbel's troupe, composed of a core group of four people from France, Brazil, Slovenia and Germany, can tinker at their leisure, build puppets of all sizes (including all the original creatures, half-human half-animal, for the graduation show of the 10th class of Esnam based on Brecht) and have a performance stage to test their shows on a full scale.
Juliette Poirier
The young Yokaï Company will perform at the Charleville-Mézières World Puppet Theatre Festival. They offer a fantastical and delirious universe, a blend of magic and illusion. Violaine Fimbel created this company three years ago, after graduating from ESNAM (National Higher School of Puppet Arts) in Charleville-Mézières. She offers a plunge into the strange, tinged with the macabre. You'll either love it or hate it. But in any case, you won't remain indifferent to this show. Her performance presents a body, that of the visionary early 20th-century theatre theorist Antonin Artaud, possessed by the words and creatures invented by Lewis Carroll, the author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. A real episode from his life that fascinated puppeteer Violaine Fimbel. Her world is fantastical and delirious. At 28, Violaine Fimbel graduated from the National School of Puppet Arts in Charleville-Mézières. She chose to stay there and establish her own company, performance venue, and workshop, from which strange creatures emerge. Her shows *Possession* and *Killing Alice* are part of the official program of the World Puppet Theatre Festival, running from September 18 to 21, 2017, in Charleville-Mézières. (Warning: not for the faint of heart)
