Max & Maurice

Les Grands Fourneaux #2

Max & Maurice
A 40-year story...
In 1984, Antoine and Emmanuel, known as Max and Maurice, founded their own
company and began performing as a duo. With their performances, they travelled
through many cities in France and across Europe.

Their work, inspired by circus arts, evolved alongside them. Max and Maurice embraced burlesque and absurdity, expressing their emotions exclusively through body language.
In the following years, participation in many festivals brought them valuable
encounters with other artists. Emmanuel, who takes care of creation and direction, decided to expand his visions to a larger stage. The duo remained part of the performance but gradually surrounded themselves with other talented artists. In 1996, the company acquired its first big top.

Since then, they have created seven performances in the big top:
– Cirque Mons (1997)
– L'Arche A Songe (2002)
– Oups! (2005)
– La Quincaillerie Lamoureux (2011)
– Les Grands Fourneaux (2015)
– Trois Petits Tours et puis s'en vont (2019)
– De A à Zèbre (2021)

Although time passes and muscles sometimes ache, the big top remains a magical place they cannot give up. It’s a space full of fantasy, poetry, and dreams. It’s a place that has grown close to their hearts, and perhaps it has shaped them just as much as they have shaped it.

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the ensemble – and its planned dissolution into the universe (because even the best things eventually end) – the company decided to embark on a final tour and return to its most famous productions.
And what could be a better finale to this incredible journey than Les Grands
Fourneaux? A crazy adventure that has left indelible marks not only in the hearts of the audience but also in the souls of the artists themselves.

Written and directed by Emmanuel GILLERON
Music by Cyriaque BELLOT
Cast: Chiara BAGNI, Cyriaque BELLOT, Amandine CALIGE, Sandrine COLOMBET, Antoine DESCHAMPS, Emmanuel GILLERON, Rubén MARTIN URDIALES, Camille TOYER, Olivier VERZELEN
Kitchen: Florence BRAY
Technical management of the chapitat: Olivier VERZELEN
Administration: Alexandre HUBERT
Production and distribution: Guillaume CORNU
Set design: collaboration with students from the Urbain-Vitry vocational school in Toulouse

OFFICIAL PATRONAGE
Les Grands Fourneaux was produced under the auspices of AZIMUT and Compagnie Max & Maurice, with the support of the Ministry of Culture and Communication - DRAC Normandy, the Region of Normandy, the Council of the Department of Calvados and ODIA Normandy. The project was also supported by the Ministry of Culture DGCA and SPEDIDAM.