An all-terrain, promenade-style performance – 1 hour 5 minutes – Suitable for ages 10 and up

The Clash, the Sex Pistols, Mad Max, and... Archaos!

Forty years ago, the punk wave swept across France. From the Avignon Festival in 1987 to stages around the globe, Archaos stood at the vanguard, projecting an image of France as an innovator in circus arts creation.
The *Metal Clown* adventure was a phenomenon: 120 people on stage, 13 nationalities, and a convoy stretching 1.5 kilometers. "The Whale"—an ovoid big top made of 4,000 square meters of canvas—was designed to allow a parade of oversized vehicles to pass through. The procession of machines filled the tent’s vast dome with the roar of engines and the fumes of gasoline. A *Mad Max*-esque setting was established, and *Metal Clown* defied the gods.

In June 1992, the Archaos circus saw its canvas cathedral ripped apart... Artists and technicians stood by helplessly as the colossal *Metal Clown* adventure collapsed...

Twenty-five years after the tragedy, the Compagnie d’Elles—firmly determined to shed light on the events—traveled across France in search of those who held the memories of this story.

A polyphonic script blending songs, tales, monologues, asides, and sudden shifts in tone, *Tôle Story: Répertoire d'un chaos* recounts, chants, sings, proclaims, narrates, and performs spoken-word pieces to tell the story of "The Whale," the mystical Archaos big top. An imaginary space between knowledge and truth that, when set against the historical and literary record, offers a human, original, and unique perspective on a company that revolutionized the world's arenas.