‘Camille and Manolo, a couple of equestrian artists, needed a marquee to stage and play Macbeth. Their request was so precise that I suggested they be their own project owner. With the help of a young architect, Goulven Richard, a real bond developed between us, and we find an account of that in the notebooks, laid out like so many “in progress notes”, bringing together hypotheses, technical responses, and finally the whole history of this marquee. […] The circular layout, ideal for the horses, was an issue for the actors who had to address themselves to a public in a complete circle around them. I had in mind what I had seen in the Ivory Coast, where the Lobi live: newly-weds receive a parcel of land on which they trace, by pacing it out, the contours of the house they want to build for themselves. First of all, a 50-centimetre high mud wall is built and they live within it for a certain time. If the plan is confirmed as good, the walls are built up progressively until they make a house. I suggested to Camille and Manolo that we proceed that way. We held life-size trials, on a beach in the Camargue, using the slopes of the dunes to test the gradient of the stands, the spectators’ view and the horses’ steps. That’s how the idea came up of entwining a circle and an oval: an off centre circus within the oval, let us place the public between the two, bringing together the circular and frontal stage areas. Purely by chance, the resulting shape looked like a horse shoe! […] The marquee had to be translucent so that the outside world would be visible, but at the last minute, the manufacturer refused to sell it, saying it would age badly — but that was exactly what we wanted. The black, opaque marquee with a disk of light showing the stars and the cosmos… This object has a very special force, linked to Macbeth, and yet it has the capacity to transform itself with the passing of time and the various productions.’ (Patrick Bouchain).
