Méta Up opens the doors to its new premises on campus

Announced as a simple “site visit”, the event turned out to be much more festive and theatrical, as is often the case with the Méta…

The meeting was set for 7 p.m., this Wednesday, December 18, 2024, in front of the Baraka, a large wooden chalet which constitutes the first building of the national drama center (CDN) of Poitiers installed on the university campus. And the invitation enjoined the participants “to celebrate the winter solstice together […] in the presence of artists ».

Between-sorts on all floors

In fact, the visit – organized by groups of around fifteen people – is punctuated by short breaks. Upstairs, an actor, seated behind a desk, recites literary extracts punctuated by light songs, while, in one of the dressing rooms, Mathilde Panis and Thomas Guené rehearse several scenes from the play Backwardsdirected by Pascale Daniel-Lacombe and presented in Poitiers in 2021, when she took over the management of the CDN.

In the courtyard behind the Baraka, Poitou singer Maxime Plisson performs pop hits in karaoke mode, in the light of a dazzling luminous balloon.

Right next door, in the vast ephemeral theater with canvas walls, the dancer Jean-Antoine Bigot moves in the darkness under the hypnotic oscillations of a chandelier.

At the end of these dramatized visits, the director of Méta took the microphone on the stage installed in the Baraka: “Tonight, it is not an inauguration but a festive stage for the Méta CDNrecalled Pascale Daniel-Lacombe. This first open house remains a step for the Meta CDN still under construction. We see, it is not finished, not completed, not completely equipped but we are on the verge: the public will be able to enter here, in the Baraka, from January 13, and in the large hall, we hope. , next season. »

And the director lists the first names of the workers and craftsmen who assembled these buildings and connected the networks, of all those who make up the Méta team and of the actors and actresses associated with the CDN.

We know that due to the instability of the parking lot on which the buildings were installed (and which required the installation of micropiles), the site was significantly delayed. The 2024-2025 theater season will therefore take place outside the walls, like the previous ones, with shows hosted in partner venues such as the Beaulieu entertainment center or the Maison des études. “From January, the Baraka will be open during the day for seminars, meeting times, reading workshops, explains Pascale Daniel-Lacombe. We will be able to test things before the full opening next season. It was important for us to start a little dynamic before the students’ last term, with meeting times, workshop outings… “

In the meantime, the first meeting of this Winter Prelude has been set in Beaulieu: Friday January 10, 2025, the performance hall will host the piece 1.200 Toursby Sidney Ali Mehellebn, directed by Aurélie Van Den Daele. A “fable about the crazy race of our time: a wise one about the press, rap and sorority”. Quite a program.