The 2022 edition of Bridiers, “The Honor of Brede“, prepares you for a leap in time. A leap of more than 2,000 years exactly! The bleachers will indeed be transformed and make way for a Roman amphitheater. At its feet: a completely reconstructed archaeological site. The story will start shortly before the Battle of Alesia, in the year -55 BC, and will end with the fall of the Roman Empire. The dates, the places: nothing was left to chance. “Everything was validated by Florian Baret, the archaeologist in charge of the excavations at Bridiers. He reread everything, checked and gave us the green light for the script“, explains Jean-Noël Pinaud, the director. “As a reminder, the pretext for this show was born two years ago and it is obviously linked to the archaeological site which has been updated for three years, between La Souterraine and the National 145“, he specifies.
Thomas Chabrol will be the voice of the fresco
The objective of this next edition: to reconnect with the fundamentals. “For 1h30, the show will transcribe five centuries of history. The spectators will travel: we will go to Limoges, but also to Bordeaux, Rome and the Orient“. On stage, key characters. We must of course expect to see Vercingetorix, Caesar but also a Druid and Roman senators appear. This story will come to life thanks to 350 artists and volunteers, and will be told by a common thread. “It will be an archaeologist and we have chosen actor and director Thomas Chabrol“, explains with a smile Jean-Noël Pinaud. The actor is a regular at the Creuse meeting, he has already lent him his voice and keeps a family home in the department. “He hasn’t received the final script yet as we are making some changes“, confides the director, attentive to the details. Several elements of the show will also remain secret until this summer. “With this show, we reconnect with the Bridiers fresco. There will be magic, duplication of characters, effects, things in the sky. There will also be a real menagerie with animals that we are not used to seeing here in Creuse“, lists the organizer.
Spectators will also be able to tour the excavation site
By August, there is still a lot of work to be completed, especially the costumes. “There are elements, sets that we have. We are going to restore them, adapt them. But we will also buy real helmets of Roman soldiers, togas, Gallic headdresses. We need to build a Roman galley. At the moment, we are also making the costumes for the main characters which will be magnificent, especially Caesar’s!“.
Tickets are already on sale. The organizers hope that this 16th edition will be held without sanitary measures, but they are preparing for any eventuality. The site can accommodate 2,000 spectators each evening. Another novelty of this 2022 edition: access, upstream of the show, to the real archaeological site.