“May - that’s what they call me
May, for I was born in May "

MayDay is a free and wild journey back in time, a dive into memory – that is, into an infinite realm, vaster than recollection.

It all begins with an interview: to escape the ghosts of her past, Mary Burns accepts to go back in time and face the crimes she committed when she was a ten years old child. Her words will successively bring forth other female figures: Mary aged 10, her mother, her mother's mother.

Voices and images intertwine in the open air. Ultimately, as if waking from a dream, we glimpse the possibility of being, more or less, at peace with the present.

WITH

Marie Matheron
Mary Burns, 40 years old (Kate)

Alix Riemer
Mary Burns, 10 years old

Maëlia Gentil
Betty Burns, her mother

Vanessa Larré
Alice McKensie,
her mother's mother

Biño Sauitzvy
A journalist

With the voices of
Guy-Patrick Sainderichin
Dorothée Zumstein
Calypso Baquey
Krishna Levy
Aaron Taylor
David Houri
Philippe Duclos

Set design
Hélène Jourdan

Lighting
Jérémie Papin
Mathilde Chamoux

Music
Krishna Levy

Choreography
Biño Sauitzvy

Video
Quentin Vigier

Sound design
Quentin Dumay

Costumes
Marie-Cécile Viault

Assistant Director
Calypso Baquey

Stage management
Marie Bonnemaison
Paul Amiel

Sound Management
Lauriane Rambault

General direction
Mathilde Chamoux

Painting
Myrtille Pichon

Set design intern
Juliette Terreaux

Stage photographies by
Jean-Louis Fernandez

Production
L’In-quarto

Co-productions
La Colline-Théâtre national
CDN de Haute-Normandie
Théâtre Dijon Bourgogne Centre Dramatique National
Célestins-Théâtre de Lyon
CDN de Besançon Franche-Comté
CDN d’Orléans/Loiret/Centre.

With production support from
DRAC Île-de-France

Support from
Comédie de Reims-CDN

Artistic participation
from Jeune Théâtre National

With the participation of
the construction workshops of
La Colline - Théâtre National

Production
Laure Duqué

Thanks to
Théâtre de Vanves
La Cie des Lucioles
La Comédie de Caen – CDN de Normandie,
L’École des Arts Décoratifs
La Commune - Centre dramatique national d’Aubervilliers
Matthieu Sampeur

The text is published in France by Quartett Editions under the title Big Blue Eyes. It was translated into English by Dorothée Zumstein under the title MayDay, which was chosen as the title of the show. The play was reissued in February 2017 under the title MayDay.

Julie Duclos is an associate artist at La Colline - Théâtre National under the direction of Stéphane Braunschweig (from 2015 to 2017).