Game Over 1

In this image-driven world, we have the impression that every day might be the last, that it’s “game over” for the absurd endeavor that is human society. Game Over 1 recounts the infinite power of TV over the world as it offers mass entertainment to people while manipulating information and turning it into spectacle. In this performance, the unidirectional flow of information is controlled by spoiled brats who appear on the big screen at the back of the stage while they are constantly monitoring the ratings.

Game Over 1 is the expression of the average citizen’s dismay at the increasingly rapid evolution of image and computer technologies, at the kind of mush that remains in the head of a viewer who absorbs 10 hours of television in a day.

The scenography is crafted with technical and artistic resources suited for a large concert hall (3000 to 10 000 seats), and the show is designed for an audience that is far from the stage and the action, as if they were facing a giant TV screen.

Production Information

Authors: Pierrot Bidon and Guy Carrara
Director: Guy Carrara

Artists: Jean Thierry Baret, Benoît Belleville, Valérie Bordedebat, Christophe Chapin, Dominique d'Angelo, Creso Euclides, Gérard Fasoli, Cyrille Hertel, Claire Joubert, Véronique Lafaurie, Marie Josée Larin Sogny, Cyrius Martinez, Ericka Maury Lascoux, Jean Paul Michel, Lionel Pioline, , Raquel Rache de Andrade, Patricia Reynier Peugniez, Pascal Sogny, Franck Tenot, Danny Varanne, Gérard Varanne, Philippe Varanne, Jean-Pierre Venet
Actors (35mm film): Alex Taylor, Mathieu Brickler-Gateau, Frantz Coqblin, Violaine Crespin, Saïd Jambay, Katia Kious, Lydia Kious, Priscilla Reami, Anne Somot, Sidy Top.

Scenography, set design: Georges Ulivieri
Music: Lefdup & Lefdup
Light design: Jean Marie Prouvèze
Image design: Fabien Martineau
35mm film technical advisor: Guillaume Debroise
Sound design: Alain Français
Musical coordination: Grégoire Meunier
Additional music design and composition: Cyrius
Choreography and movement: Creso Filho
Aerial choreography: Gérard Fasoli
Costumes: Raquel Rache de Andrade

Media Coverage

“The great channel surfing circus... Archaos throws itself at the brain-sucking tool. And lays siege to the Chernobyl of the mind that contaminates us. The circus adds to the body of work on the medium that “is forever too fast" (Paul Virilio) or “ever more invasive” (Régis Debray)... Yes, TV is big (too big) and Carrara is its prophet (of doom). Game Over invents a cataclysmic afterlife: METAMEDIA...”
– Antoine Perraud, Télérama, 4 October 1995

“Archaos breaks TV... Game Over... A rant... incredible imagination... mix of invention, vitality...Universal, a show with practically no words that is carried by the techno music of Lefdup & Lefdup, channel surfing across the sado-masochistic relationship between the artist and their audience... a snapshot of the times, lively, absurd, fast-paced — 1h 30m… a reflection of the times: rap, video games, images... a crazy show about TV that drives you crazy...”
– Sophie Grassin, L’Express, 28 September 1995

“Game Over... A cocktail of theater, circus, filmed images... Acrobats, stunts, music... The magic formula of a show that is truly for the people... The miracle occurs thanks to Archaos... A waking nightmare where we watch as TV manipulates the world... Alex Taylor, the lobotomized host of this diabolical TV program... An illusion pushed to its final paroxysm...”
– Pierre Vavasseur, 5 October 1995

“Game Over, their ninth creation… Living cinema by Archaos... Guy Carrara, a veteran of extraordinary shows... The music, one of the biggest surprises... The Lefdup brothers have brought their musical genius to Game Over... A true multimedia show... a profusion of art and technique... One hour and forty minutes of total spectacle...”
– Olivier Schmidt, Le Monde, 5 October 1995

“Game Over... A low angle vision of the world of images and technologies... All the myths of empire and media domination, sex, money, violence... Flesh-and-blood beings leaping through the air, twisting, crashing to the ground, fluttering... Beyond thrilling... Humor and derision... Gigantic, dazzling, and violent scenes... Poetry and chaos intermingle as Archaos makes fear palpable and sweat concrete... A total and complete show that places all the media at the service of the imagination.”
– F. Kahn, Taktik

“Archaos: Rock-and-roll circus, a new form of artistic expression with Game Over... a new kind of writing, somewhere between cinema storyboards and theatrical works.. A staging that feels like Cecil B. DeMille has been reinterpreted by Terry Gilliam or Ridley Scott...”
Olivier Portnoy, Rage

“Archaos, telemaniac... Game Over... Urban-political metaphors... excellent performances... on the big screen, Alex Taylor and an irresistible band of young Bugsy Malone-style kids, who play the role of the masterminds behind the infinite world of TV…”
– Caroline Jurgenson, Le Figaro

“Archaos goes ‘full tilt’ again and pulls out all the stops with Game Over, a modern pantomime, an explosive and almost exclusively wordless show... a debauchery of movement and color... permeated by the magic of these interdisciplinary artists...”
– Daniel Groussard, Libération, October 6 1995

“Game Over... a complete spectacle... a great video game... a blend of cinema, music, circus, theater... incredible staging... Game Over makes all the arts one and becomes the poet of a universal language...”
– Géraldine Valia, L’Humanité

“Game Over... a virtual fairytale revolutionizes the world of images... a cathodic vision of tomorrow’s world where artists, trapeze artists, jugglers, and crazed bikers confront the Fifth Estate... a man burns on stage against the backdrop of the H-bomb... Game Over, a lesson in conscience that is worth meditating on...”
– Catherine Walgenwitz, La Marseillaise

“Archaos smashes through the screen... Game Over... is a feast for the eyes and ears... Circus acts unfold in a universe reminiscent of George Orwell’s 1984... Confrontation between projected images and performers who achieve multiple exploits on stage... Virtual world versus real world... A crazy rhythm... Totally mind-blowing...”
– Jacques Corot, Le Provençal

“Game Over. Palais des Sports, Paris... Guy Carrara delivers a carnivorous critique of the Fifth Estate. For the past eight years, he’s been digging into the marrow of his era, offering a distinctive vision of his contemporaries with each show... Game Over is a great multimedia show that’s a feast for the eyes and ears. And it leaves you with a genuine sense of emotion...”
– Thierry Voisin, Les Saisons De La Danse, June 2016