The Company
An emerging company from the Hautes-Pyrénées, La Mandragore was founded in February 2018 by Corinne Mathou, a director, dancer and actress, also a theatre studies trainer graduated from the Comédie de St Etienne. It is made up of artists from the Aquitaine and Occitanie region trained in different disciplines: dance, theatre, circus and puppetry. La Mandragore also works with artists from Paris and Lyon for these different projects.
In addition to its artistic activities, one of La Mandragore's projects aims to mix the arts (theatre, dance and performance) and audiences. The company wants to allow audiences who do not have easy access to the arts, in rural areas and priority neighbourhoods, to be able to confront themselves with an artistic experience. The company's objective is to find a real mix and to bring together different actors and institutions in the area. It partners with local companies and institutions such as the Dans6t dance company, the Henri Duparc Conservatory, the Ecole Supérieure des Arts de Pau and various cultural scenes such as the Scène Nationale du Parvis Tarbes-Pyrénées, the Maison de la Vallée de Luz St Sauveur or the Halle aux Grains de Bagnères-de-Bigorre. The company has developed three poles within its structure: cultural transmission and mediation, creation and artistic research.
La Mandragore runs theatre and dance workshops with asylum seekers and people living in priority neighbourhoods or rural areas. The company's activities are supported by the Urban Policy, the Tarbes Prefecture, the Departmental Directorate for Social Cohesion and Population Protection (DCSPP), Child Welfare , the Tarbes-Lourdes Urban Area and the city of Tarbes, the Hautes -Pyrénées Department and the Drac Occitanie.
The Artistic Team
Corinne Mathou
Director
Actress
Dancer
Corinne Mathou is an artist from the Occitanie region. Trained by Georges Bigot, a former actor at the Théâtre du Soleil, she went to study traditional Indian arts: Kathakali, Môhiniyâttam and Kalaryppayatt, in the Kerala region of South India. She trained for over fifteen years with several renowned masters: Fact Mohan, Kalamandalam Pradeep, Venu.G, CVN Unni, Gopi Ashan, Nirmala Paniker and Neena Prasad. In 2011, she moved to Bangalore, a platform for contemporary creation. There she met many artists with whom she collaborated, including the dancers of the Attakkalari company. Corinne has performed at temple festivals and on contemporary Indian stages.
Back in France in 2018, she founded the Théâtre-Danse La Mandragore Company . Corinne Mathou has a degree in theatre studies and anthropology of performance. She was selected in 2015 to participate in Ariane Mnouchkine's Ecole Nomade in Pondicherry. She also has a state diploma from La Comédie de St Etienne in Dramatic Art and is a member of the network of young researchers at the National Dance Center. She has created several collective creations both in India, notably in the Alliances Françaises, and in France. Today she works with the Dans6T Company, the Gavarnie Festival and the LEA Company in Pessac as an actress, dancer and director. She recently attended workshops with La Batsheva by Ohad Naharin, Oona Doherty, Nach, Philippe Ménard and Max Fossati and Emmanuel Grivet. Corinne Mathou was funded by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the ICCR (Indian Council for Cultural Relation). She was also the recipient of a Vocation Scholarship from the Marcel Bleustein-Blanchet Foundation in 2003.
Aurelie Girveau
Actress
Aurélie Girveau est une artiste de la compagnie LEA de Bordeaux. Formée par George Bigot, ancien comédien du théâtre du soleil, elle crée des spectacles pour la petite enfance. Aurélie développe un travail autour de la lumière et de la création sonore afin de peindre des paysages oniriques et poétiques. Elle s'inspire tant des univers de Pina Baush et de Robert Wilson, que du théâtre populaire comme la Commedia Dell'Arte.
Aurélie est aussi metteure en scène et travaille avec différentes compagnies en Aquitaine. Elle accompagne régulièrement ses projets de sensibilisation et de médiations culturelles. Elle anime aussi des ateliers et des stages de théâtre amateur pour le Théâtre en Miettes et la Compagnie LEA. Elle intervient également auprès de différents publics, notamment les personnes en situation de handicap et les adolescents en cours d'insertion, au COJ et à l'ITEP de Pessac. Elle propose aussi des sessions dans le milieu de l'entreprise, notamment auprès des employées femmes de la SNCF autour des questions du sexisme ordinaire.
Avec la compagnie LEA, elle participe à la création de plusieurs spectacles petite enfance dont l'Adopté (2004), Rêve Encore (2010), Goûte à l'eau (2011, 2018). Enfin, elle réalise la mise en scène de Pied Main Bouche (2020), spectacle autour des questions de genre.
Coretta Assie
Actress
Circassian
Self-taught, Coretta Assié began circus at the age of eight at the Bordeaux Circus School. There, she rubbed shoulders with professional artists and trained in street arts. She joined the Imhotep Cirque and its semi-professional troupe, where she continued her training as a trapeze artist and diversified her practice by specializing in balancing on canes and aerial fabric. Her work combines circus acrobatics with theatrical comedy. She has notably performed as an extra in the Opéra Carmen at the Grand Théâtre de Bordeaux. She joined various professional companies such as Cirk'onflex and Déclic Circus .
Coretta has a degree in Technical Sciences of Physical and Sports Abilities and was a lecturer at the UFR STAPS of Bordeaux III. In addition to her university studies, she co-founded the contemporary circus company D'Eux in 2010, within which she created several shows combining dance, theater and circus.
Specializing in aerial circus disciplines and balances, she currently works in particular with the Smart and LEA companies.
Ludovic Privat
Actor
scenographer
Inspired by Antonin Artaud, Tennessee Williams and Arthur Miller, the artistic universe of Ludovic Privat brings together performing arts and visual arts. Ludovic specializes in mask work, particularly Balinese masks and Commedia Dell' Arte. His work also draws on certain bodily practices such as fencing, weapon handling and stick handling, which he practices assiduously. A practice enriched by the art of creating hand-held puppets, which he also learns.
Ludovic is also interested in dramaturgical work. In particular, he co-wrote Homocaddicus in 2013, a play dealing with madness and the alienating relationship between men and consumer society. He is currently working on a new creation, Planche , a play dealing with the social mask and which questions the complex relationship between director and actor. Ludovic is also a scenographer for various companies in the Aquitaine region.
Gabrielle Weisbuch
Danseuse
Music, theatre and visual arts are an integral part of Gabrielle Weisbuch's school curriculum. Since 2002, she has followed several classical and contemporary dance training courses in Lausanne (Switzerland) as well as in Lyon and Toulouse. In Brazil and Argentina, she learned and perfected couple dances. Later enriched by great experiences with various companies, choreographers and directors such as: Mimuluse by Jomar Mesquita in Brazil, Union Tanguera by Esteban Moreno Argentin in France, Kate Weare dance company in New York, Julio Arozarena Cuba in Switzerland Jean-Philippe Clarac and Olivier Deloeuil, the Orchestre national de Lyon, Orchestre des Champs Elysées, Ensemble Troika by Alexei Birioukov in France and Russia. They continue with enthusiasm to explore and create the dance of tomorrow.
Laura Champion
Actress
Actress and director, Laura Champion developed a passion for theatre from a very young age. After training as a special needs educator and spending several years supporting young people in difficulty, she began a retraining project in the theatre world without, however, abandoning the social aspect of her initial training.
This is how in 2019 she began to lead amateur theater workshops and courses and intervened in schools for theater projects with the company la Porte Bleue. In 2021 she joined the Compagnie la Mandragore which allowed her to deepen her experience and continue her socio-educational and theatrical work.
In 2020 she performed in her first show Peepshow in the Alps with the Or Bleu company under the direction of Marie-Anne Gorbatchevsky.
Laura also continues to train in the Meisner technique in Berlin and in clowning at the Samovar School.
Bastien Sallaberry
Lighting technician
Bastien Sallaberry has been practicing theater since his childhood. Holder of a bachelor's degree in carpentry, he entered the professional world in 2007, as a decorator. Very quickly, integrated into the team of Tarbes en Scène as a lighting technician, he began his first stages and welcomed all kinds of theater and dance companies as well as musical groups.
He became a technician and general manager for events organized by "La Maison de la Vallée" in Luz St Sauveur. He was also entrusted with lighting creations by companies such as: Cie des Improsteurs, Cie des Odyssées, Cie Les Jolies Choses, Théâtre de la bulle, La boite à jouer, Les pieds dans le plat, Cie Électrons libres, la Tertulia Flamenca, la Mandragore...