Originally scheduled to take place at the Musée Parc, the show *Ctrl-x* will be held in Besançon on Wednesday, June 12, 2024.

Ctrl-X
Pauline Peyrade, The Unwelcome Solitaries

A window pops up. A video. An ad. A news flash. The phone rings. Adèle is worried. “Did you take your medicine?” Laurent is getting impatient. “Do you want me to come back up?” A window pops up. Photos of Pierre. Interviews with Pierre. Memories of Pierre. A window opens. On Ida’s love. On her memory. On her impulses. On her obsessions. On a past locked away in the present of a computer screen. The span of a single night. The span of a crisis—or perhaps an escape.

The play written by Pauline Peyrade is based on a dramatic structure inspired by the way we navigate the internet: successively opening windows, moving from one piece of content to another—from a private conversation to a newspaper article, from a video to a music track… At first glance, *Ctrl X* is a play that could be described as technological. We perceive it as an innovative algorithm awaiting a machine capable of running it at full capacity. This is the true power of the writing, in that it requires very little technology. What about its adaptation for the stage? Is it possible to convey the elaborate system of *Ctrl X* without resorting to heavy-duty technology? If this question seems technical, it’s because *Ctrl X* is decidedly unlike any other play. Following this pattern of successive connections, it reveals an infinite space where all the echoes of the world can collide. Thus, Ctrl X poses a real question to us as creators. It challenges us to examine our ability to strip a system bare in order to breathe life into it without compromising the vitality of that very system.

Prices: €13 and €8 for youth, students, or job seekers