The Cabaret of Urgent Matters is a moment to come together, break away from the norm, and imagine gentler everyday lives. Through poetic tools, this cabaret explores the capacity for re-politicization and resistance through celebration, performance, and collective living, with a constellation of cabaret figures.

Statement of Intent

Dear audience, yes, over here… this way! Come on in to the Cabaret of Urgent Matters…

With many hands and a great deal of passion, we’ve cooked up a show for you like a cosmic recipe. Inside a large steaming pot, we’ve added the finest ingredients from the artists of our dreams coming from circus, drag, burlesque, and performance.

We’ve concocted a moment to gather, meet, and surround one another. A space to step away from everyday reality, to escape and break with normality and daily violence. We’ve crafted a cabaret like a temporary roof, a breath, a cozy space, a collective refuge where we hope everyone can catch their breath again.

Because we believe it is urgent to come together to avoid being isolated and paralyzed in the face of all that needs to be dismantled. Because we think that with all our hands, we can achieve something…

Dear audience, you are welcome in this cabaret home, dressed in your favorite outfits and emotions from the most extravagant to the most comfortable. Join us to make the popcorn burst with joy, tenderness, and anger.

For this cabaret, we aimed to create a show that can be followed and appreciated across the full spectrum of hearing. It includes scenes in silence and others supported by music. All presentations and texts are shared both orally and in writing.

The performances on April 24 and 25 include a burlesque striptease act. One artist removes clothing over the course of the act, leading to partial nudity. The show addresses various sensitive and political topics, including structural discrimination and oppression.

Eight small handheld speakers that allow you to feel vibrations will be available during the performance, enhancing immersion alongside the low frequencies of the sound system. This is currently an experimental approach that the company hopes to refine with feedback from those concerned.

For reserving these devices, hearing audience members are kindly asked to give priority to others across the hearing spectrum. Reservations at: accueil@arsenic.ch

Biography

CHANTAL MARIAM NEUHAUS: Artist (burlesque and stage artist), she is also the co-founder of Nyon’s afro-feminist collective Amani and an activist. After a few years working as a paramedic, she is now training to be an adult educator.
She seeks what ignites collective intelligence and attempts to provoke moments where the magic happens, shaping spaces where care is a collective question. Her works have been shown at Les Créatives, Belluard Bollwerk and at the Bureau des Questions Importantes, in theaters of the Cité Bleue, Carouge (Geneva), Néo-Martine in Lausanne and at the public libraries of Vevey, Geneva and Nyon.

CHLOÉ DÉMÉTRIADÈS: Trained in contemporary circus, she graduated with a bachelor from EDHEA (CH) and with a master from ERG (BE). Her work is at the crossroad of different visual and performative practices, curatorial research, and mediation. Her works always center issues of hospitality, care, and relationships to audiences. She has worked on many performances and her creations have been shown in different venues and festivals such as: festival TROUBLE (Brussels), far° festival, Théâtre des Halles, Festival de la Cité, Lausanne Jardin, festival Baz’Art, DAF festival, Les Créatives and the Belluard Bollwerk Festival.

Relaxed Performances (Sunday 26.04)

Relaxed performances are welcoming and inclusive events where each person is embraced in their uniqueness. They are designed to allow as many people as possible to enjoy the experience of live performance.

During the show, everyone is free to express their emotions in their own way without fear of judgment. A soft light will remain on in the theater so that those uncomfortable with darkness can still enjoy the performance.

The door will remain open for anyone who wishes to step out temporarily. Technical elements are adjusted so that sound and lighting effects are slightly softened.

Front-of-house staff can be recognized by a bright orange accessory; they are there to assist you outside the auditorium and respond to your needs.

A quiet room near the ticket office will also be open, available for rest and calm. You can also talk and share with Tanya or Malissa, who will be present there.