Le Cauchemar de Séville - Les Tombées de la Nuit : Festival | Dimanche à Rennes

Forty years after the France-Germany game in the 1982 Football World Cup, Le Cauchemar de Séville is back! To bring this legendary semi-final to life, Swiss artist Massimo Furlan has come up with this “tragedy in two acts with extra time” to be presented at Roazhon Park stadium, with fourteen local residents and accomplices, and two commentators, Vincent Simonneaux and Cyrille L’Helgoualch. This participatory theatrical adventure will meticulously re-enact the movements, actions and tragedy of this high-drama sporting choreography, without a ball or opposition!

The legendary match pitting France against Germany in Seville during the 1982 World Cup is still making waves at Les Tombées de la Nuit. Following the creation of the movie/concert, Séville 82 (with Red, Tonio Marinescu and Philippe Tessier), and after a number of setbacks delaying the first showing at Roazhon Park by two years, Michel Platini’s France and Manfred Kalt’s West Germany finally make their return in 2022 for the participatory theatrical adventure from Swiss artist Massimo Furlan, which could be subtitled “Tragedy in two acts with extra time…and two postponements.”

Fourteen local residents/accomplices and two commentators will re-enact the French side of the match on the Roazhon Park pitch, and relive the intensity of this incredibly tense and high-drama 120-minute face-off, culminating in a Dantean penalty shoot-out. Through the participatory human adventure and long, immersive preparatory work which started in November 2019, Massimo Furlan explores personal and collective memory around this match, which has become an epic tale passed down through the generations.

With Cauchemar de Séville, Massimo Furlan faithfully recreates the athletic choreography using amateur players and enthusiastic residents who become a new 1982 French World Cup team, revives the memory of familiar heroes such as Hidalgo, Platini, Rocheteau, Bossis, Giresse, Tigana and Amoros and brings to life the action, dreams, hope, disappointment and injustice, with live commentary from Vincent Simonneaux and Cyrille L’Helgoualch, seated in the stands.

This work on football and memory follows on from previous projects, such as Furlan / Numéro 23 (2002) and Numéro 10 (2006) in which the artist donned Platini’s shirt at Parc des Princes stadium. After Nocturne (2017), Blue Tired Heroes (2018) and Hospitalités (2019), Massimo Furlan continues his wonderful adventure with Les Tombées de la Nuit.

In partnership with Le Stade Rennais Football Club, l’association La Tour d’Auvergne, le CREA – Université Rennes 2, Ker Aqua, Léon le Cochon, & Canal B.