It’s Tuesday night in The Pit and two bald, middle-aged French men are telling a story. In many ways it’s an old story: girl meets boy, falls in love, goes on an adventure in which they lose and then find one another again. In many more immediate ways, it is not. The man to my right, Romain Bermond, is etching a park boulevard with geometric detail in real-time. Opposite him, the man to my left, Jean-Baptiste Maillet, is playing a drum kit with one hand, space-rock synths with the other and a harmonica in-between. They are Stereoptik and Stellaire is a love-story mime. It is also set in space.
© Christophe Raynaud de Lage.
Jean Baptiste Maillet and Romain Bermond, better known as STEREOPTIK, have entranced audiences alike since 2009 with their integration of cinematography and musical accompaniments to make pieces that truly stand out. A partnership that proves vital to the end result, Maillet and Bermond go beyond being performers of their pieces, designing every element, from the narrative, to the lighting, to the soundtrack embedded within each show. Ahead of their performance of Dark Circus at this year’s London International Festival, Theatrefullstop were able to speak Maillet and Bermond about performing at this year’s festival, how they both approach creating their work and the importance of LIMF for the promotion of physical and visual theatre.