MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY

Music theatre for 3 musician, video, lights, smoke and objects.
Concept and creation: Andrea Zamengo
Performers: Chloé Bieri, Julien Ehrensperger and Andrea Zamengo
Artistic direction: Ludmilla Mercier
Technik: Erwin Fonseca
Duration: 50 minutes
Premiere: 08.092024 - Alte Feuerwehrhalle Viktoria, Bern, for Musikfestival Bern 2024

I think every child at some point in their childhood dreams of becoming a firefighter. The glamour of the uniform, the huge trucks and the fight against fire make this job so interesting that even wearing a helmet and holding a fire hose would make any child happy.

Taking inspiration from my father's job, MAYDAY MAYDAY MAYDAY stages a music theatre performance centred in the world of firefighters.

Musicians in addition to singing, playing electric guitar and drums, are engaged in performing physical actions related to the world of firemen. In this way, arts such as music, theatre and performance art are mixed and used to create an interdisciplinary work that engages and immerses the audience in a multi-sensory experience.

The music and sounds used vary between live music, soundscape, sound effects, authentic found audio, dialogs and soundtracks that will transport the audience inside the life of a firefighter.
The entire composition is characterised by a contrast between an aggressive and djent aesthetic with the use of distorted and dirty sounds representing dangerous situations, and a more aleatory and majestic aesthetic through the depiction of Saint Barbara, the patron saint of firefighters.

Authentic video interviews are included in the project with the main purpose of giving voice to those who actually do this work and then reinterpret them from an artistic point of view.