Ages 5 and up
At the edge of the ring, a circle of inward-facing fans; in the middle, a rather odd-looking puppeteer who plays with the currents of air to animate an unusual cast of characters: small, multicoloured plastic bags that catch the updrafts, twirl through the air, and send our imaginations soaring! A graceful and poetic juggling act that reminds us that things aren’t always as ordinary as they seem.

Surrounding the ring, a regiment of carefully positioned, inward-facing fans. In the middle, a rather odd-looking puppeteer, a few props, and dozens of plastic bags. As we hear the first few notes of Debussy’s well-known prelude, a breeze starts to blow: it’s a foehn, a warm mountain wind, and it’s coming from all those fans. And the little grocery bags start to move! They come alive! Caught on the rising drafts, juggled by the mysterious ballet master, they begin an astonishing airborne dance, and soon the space is filled with multicoloured shapes joyously swirling to the music.

Phia Ménard will manipulate anything (except puppets) and juggle anything (except balls). Indeed, the artistic director of Compagnie Non Nova prefers to work with things that are elusive and difficult to grasp. This time she has chosen to explore something you can’t even see: the wind. Its gentle breezes and violent gusts inspired L’après-midi d’un foehn, a one-of-a-kind fairy tale for plastic-bag characters. With disarming simplicity, Phia Ménard invites us to “see things in a new way” with a show that defies the laws of gravity and sets the imagination free, in a giddy celebration of everyday things and their potential for transformation.