
The company
Because in a time of isolation, loneliness, invisible barriers, existential questions, reflections on the essential, we have looked inside us. So as not to get lost, to understand what is left, what matters. Because in the hour of tenacious and obstinate silence, our mouths stamp their feet, our instruments move, our hearts leap. So as not to get lost, to understand those who remain, what drives us.
The company Just Before Oblivion is born following the confinement of March 2020 in Ozenay, a small village of Saône-et-Loire in Burgundy. It was for us to pool our means of expression, our languages and continue more than ever to share, express ourselves, surprise and confuse.
Dans notre recherche artistique nous aimons mêler les mots, le son, la musique, le corps, le clown, le cirque, avec la particularité d’apporter une douce confusion des sens grâce à la magie nouvelle. Ce croisement artistique se nourrit de rencontres et de collaborations avec des artistes et des techniciens qui enrichissent le travail de la compagnie en y déposant leurs regards et leurs habiletés.
We like to bring the show beyond the agreed and expected places, invest the public space, leave the memory of an emotion there, and give it back its magic. We also like to come back to the theater to better rediscover it, to enjoy the special listening that is created there. We like to mix the writings, to seek mixed techniques and to find the precision, the requirement, the laughter and the pleasure.
Et ce que nous aimons plus que tout c’est jouer.
Inviter chaque spectateur à s’abandonner un instant et accepter de perdre bien des repères.
Play and be moved.
Together.

The company
Because in a time of isolation, loneliness, invisible barriers, existential questions, reflections on the essential, we have looked inside us. So as not to get lost, to understand what is left, what matters. Because in the hour of tenacious and obstinate silence, our mouths stamp their feet, our instruments move, our hearts leap. So as not to get lost, to understand those who remain, what drives us.
The company Just Before Oblivion is born following the confinement of March 2020 in Ozenay, a small village of Saône-et-Loire in Burgundy. It was for us to pool our means of expression, our languages and continue more than ever to share, express ourselves, surprise and confuse.
Dans notre recherche artistique nous aimons mêler les mots, le son, la musique, le corps, le clown, le cirque, avec la particularité d’apporter une douce confusion des sens grâce à la magie nouvelle. Ce croisement artistique se nourrit de rencontres et de collaborations avec des artistes et des techniciens qui enrichissent le travail de la compagnie en y déposant leurs regards et leurs habiletés.
We like to bring the show beyond the agreed and expected places, invest the public space, leave the memory of an emotion there, and give it back its magic. We also like to come back to the theater to better rediscover it, to enjoy the special listening that is created there. We like to mix the writings, to seek mixed techniques and to find the precision, the requirement, the laughter and the pleasure.
And what we love more than anything is playing.
Invite each viewer to surrender for a moment and accept to lose many bearings.
Play and be moved.
Together.
Project Leaders
Team
Elisa Gourlier
Administration
Anthony Venisse
Comedian, magical effects designer
Corine Godard
Costume designer
Lisa Mazoyer
Graphic designer / illustrator
The members of the board
Yann Trenel
President
Pascaline Saillant
Treasurer
Françoise Carraud
Secretary
AMÉLIE VENISSE
Very early on, Amélie began to develop a passion for writing. She will be the winner of several prizes during her schooling.
Later, her desire for creation and bodily research led her to Belgium where she graduated from the Ecole Supérieure des Arts du Cirque de Bruxelles in June 2005 as a trapeze artist.
Very quickly, she integrated the clown into her work. In 2006, she won the Annie Fratellini Prize at the Festival Mondial du Cirque de Demain with her character “Mademoiselle Cerise”. Also awarded at the Solycirco festival in 2009, Amélie performs on many stages and cabarets in France and abroad (GOP, Wintergarten, la TOHU ...), alone or in duet with her brother Anthony.
It’s magic's turn to enter her creative process and she has been running a quick-change issue internationally since 2016.
Passionate about this new discipline, she followed the Magie Nouvelle training at the CNAC in Châlon-en-Champagne under the direction of Raphaël Navarro and Valentine Losseau from 2018 to 2020.
Alongside her career as a circus artist, Amélie is a songwriter and singer and accordion performer for the duo "Les Folles de Léon".
She has also been in charge of the program for the Détours en Tournugeois festival (circus, street arts, concerts, etc.) in Saône-et-Loire with Quentin Marotine for several years.
Quentin Marotine
Quentin est musicien et compositeur pour le spectacle vivant.
Quentin is a musician and composer for performing arts.
He began to play music on his own before joining the regional conservatory of Chalon-sur-Saône in 2004 where he followed the jazz training cycles under the direction of saxophonists Sylvain Beuf and then Olivier Py.
In 2006, he co-founded the street music company Impérial Kikiristan with which he continues to work regularly and which today enjoys international professional recognition in the street arts network.
In 2007, he discovered the clownish game at the Hangar des Mines, a pedagogy developed by Michel Dallaire.
This is a milestone in his artistic learning that will be decisive in his desire to mix his instrumental practice with other artistic forms.
From 2013, interested in electro-acoustic music and sound manipulation in real time, Quentin turned towards the implementation of computer-assisted musical devices and followed several training courses in this field, notably at the CFSM in Lyon, at the CIFAP in Paris as well as at Logelloù in Penvénan.
With his skills, he performs on cabaret stages in Germany (GOP) and Canada (La TOHU) and participates in various ephemeral "in situ" projects led by circus companies and artist collectives.
His interest in the circus arts led him to integrate in 2020 the training in New Magic at the CNAC in Chalon-en-Champagne under the direction of Raphaël Navarro and Valentine Losseau.
La Magie Nouvelle opens up a new field of scenic experimentation for him, of sound research and continues to nourish his artistic approach in multiple forms.
En 2006, il cofonde la compagnie de musique de rue Impérial Kikiristan avec laquelle il continue de travailler régulièrement et qui jouit aujourd’hui d’une reconnaissance professionnelle internationale dans le réseau des arts de la rue. En 2007, il découvre le jeu clownesque au Hangar des Mines, pédagogie élaborée par Michel Dallaire.
C’est une étape marquante de son apprentissage artistique qui sera décisive dans sa volonté de mélanger sa pratique instrumentale à d’autres formes artistiques.
A partir de 2013, intéressé par la musique électro-acoustique et la manipulation sonore en temps réel, Quentin s’oriente vers la mise en place de dispositifs musicaux assistés par ordinateur et suit plusieurs formations dans ce domaine, notamment au CFSM à Lyon, au CIFAP à Paris ainsi qu’au Logelloù à Penvénan.
Fort de ses compétences, il se produit sur des scènes de cabarets en Allemagne (GOP) et au Canada (La TOHU) et participe à différents projets éphémères «in situ» portés par des compagnies de cirque et des collectifs d’artistes.
Son intérêt pour les arts du cirque l’amène à intégrer en 2020 la formation en Magie Nouvelle au CNAC à Chalon-en-Champagne sous la direction de Raphaël Navarro et Valentine Losseau.
La Magie Nouvelle lui ouvre un nouveau champs d’expérimentation scénique, de recherche sonore et continue de nourrir sa démarche artistique sous de multiples formes.
Pascaline Saillant
Pascaline is a film producer, she was also a projectionist, when the films were still on film.
She loves weird movies, beautiful books, Rebecca's sequined dresses, Jean-Cluc's sounds, and forest gardens.
Treasurer, she doesn't like mental arithmetic, but likes spreadsheets.
Elisa Gourlier
Françoise Carraud
Françoise is a teacher of education and training sciences and a charmed grandmother.
She loves trees and words, stories, shows… people.
She is the secretary of the company.
Yann Trenel
Physiotherapist masseur, amateur musician, involved in various associations for 10 years, Yann has always preferred to be an actor rather than a spectator of local cultural life.
Today, it is out of friendship and admiration for their work that he has decided to accompany Quentin and Amélie in the creation of the company and to put his energy into their artistic projects.
Lisa Mazoyer
Making pictures, drawing, creating with her hands, she couldn't say when she started… it has always been there, familiar. Lisa has set up her studio in Tournus, where she also devotes time to the cultural association Chez ta soeur, which she co-founded. She works both on personal creations, leads workshops and also offers graphic design and communication services.
In particular, she created the logo for the company Just Before Oblivion and the poster for the show Ma Louve.
COrine Godard
Corine Godard is a costume designer. She began in the 90s with the Actea Company, Jean-Pierre Dupuy then worked for many years at the National Choreographic Center of Caen under the direction of Karine Saporta. She also brings her creativity to numerous projects, notably with the dancer choreographer Anna Ventura, during creations at the National Dramatic Center of Caen or at the Comédie de Caen.
More recently, Corine has worked with Russian artists Asya Kosina and Dimitri Kozin, the Arrivedercho Company, or for the German cabaret GOP variete de Bonn. She also brought her valuable skills to the making of some costumes for Anthony and Amélie Venisse’s quick-change number.
Anthony Venisse
Anthony is Amélie's brother. After 10 years of piano studies and training at the Rudra-Béjart dance school Lausanne and at the Circus Space in London, he continued his training at the National Circus School of Montreal where he specialized in swinging trapeze and clownish game.
From then on Anthony took to the stage as a clown and an acrobat. He cultivates a particular passion for creation and directing. In 2007, he produced his own one-clown show around a piano: Le Concierge.
Since then, Anthony has been directing both for GOP-Varieté cabarets in Germany and for the Montreal Completely Cirque festival, for which he conceived and developed in 2010 the concept of Completely Cirque Minutes, which he directed for ten years. He is also an artistic trainer and choreographer of numbers at Cirque du Soleil.
Fascinated by magic, he develops, in a duo Amélie, a clownish number built mainly around the technique of quick-change.