Drache Nationale – a juggling, circus and clown show by Compagnie Anoraks

From 19 september 2026 at 15:00 to 16 april 2027 at 20:00

Drache Nationale is a contemporary circus, juggling and clown show presented by Compagnie Anoraks, with Tom Boccara, Gaëlle Coppée and Denis Michiels on stage. For 55 minutes, the three artists tackle, with humor, tenderness and a good dose of self-deprecation, a question that concerns us all: how to manage to stay positive when everything is going wrong?

The show's title refers to a well-known Belgian expression. "La Drache Nationale" (The National Downpour) is a colloquial term for the heavy rain that supposedly has a nasty habit of hitting the country on its national holiday. Here, this rain becomes a metaphor for all those moments when things absolutely do not go as planned.

Under their anoraks and large umbrellas, Tom, Gaëlle, and Denis conjure up a succession of memories, absurd situations, and minor or major accidents of life. They talk about a queen in the rain, a slow dance at a first school dance, the death of a best friend, shattered dreams, small victories, and even a list of the world's worst mistakes.

And in the midst of all that, there is mostly juggling.

In Drache Nationale, it's not limited to technical demonstration. Objects become partners in the play and fully participate in the drama. They are thrown, caught, manipulated, repurposed, and sometimes dropped. This mechanism directly echoes the show's theme: trying, failing, starting again, and yet managing to build something with whatever is at hand.

The show navigates between contemporary juggling, object manipulation, clowning, and theatre, in a deliberately offbeat world where laughter allows for the exploration of much more intimate subjects. The three performers don't seek to embody extraordinary heroes. On the contrary, they speak of ordinary people confronted with the hesitations, doubts, failures, and unexpected events that make up everyday life.

This fragility becomes precisely one of the strengths of creation. Behind the farcical situations and absurd humor, a reflection on how we face difficulties gradually emerges. What remains when a project fails? How do we react when a dream doesn't come true? How do we move forward after a loss? And above all, how do we still find small reasons to rejoice when the rain seems never to stop?

Friendship and teamwork thus occupy an essential place in Drache Nationale. Faced with catastrophes, large or small, the three artists can at least rely on each other. The show celebrates this ability to move forward together, to transform failures into memories, and to consider small victories as important enough to be celebrated.

This approach perfectly aligns with the world of Compagnie Anoraks, founded in 2024 by Tom Boccara, Gaëlle Coppée, and Denis Michiels. Gaëlle Coppée and Denis Michiels had previously worked for about ten years with the company Scratch. Tom Boccara joined them in 2022 for the creation of Drache Nationale. From this encounter, a new artistic trio gradually emerged, then Compagnie Anoraks, while Scratch became the Scratch collective in 2024.

With their shows Drache Nationale and Mousse, Anoraks develops a circus where juggling and clowning are used to tell the stories of life's little things: failures, hesitations, attempts, aspirations, doubts, and those modest successes that allow us to keep going. This approach champions the idea that it's not necessary to accomplish something heroic to dare to take the plunge, and that it's often easier to overcome difficulties when you have a good support system.

This close connection is also reflected in their relationship with the audience. Drache Nationale prioritizes the joy of playing and sharing rather than an accumulation of spectacular performances. While juggling virtuosity is present, it remains at the service of the characters, the situations, and the story being told.

The production also boasts a strong all-terrain dimension. Designed to appeal to very different audiences, Drache Nationale can be presented in theaters as well as in public spaces, and the company humorously asserts its ability to perform just as easily in a street as on a boat, in a castle, a cellar, or an attic. This flexibility makes the show particularly well-suited to circus festivals, street arts festivals, cultural seasons, and family programs.

Suitable for ages 8 and up, the show lasts approximately 55 minutes. It allows younger children to immediately enjoy clowning, juggling, and comical situations, while teenagers and adults can also find in the stories told a part of their own failures, memories, and small victories.

The production is supported by Bram Dobbelaere for stage direction coaching, Gaël Santisteva for artistic and dramaturgical advice, and Christine Rossignol-Dallaire for clowning. Lighting design is by Thibault Condy, costumes by Héloïse Mathieu, and additional music by Loïc Lefol. Production and distribution are handled by Chantal Heck / La Chouette Diffusion.

Drache Nationale also benefits from a large network of circus and street arts partners in Belgium. The show is notably co-produced by the Maison de la Culture de Tournai, Perplx in Kortrijk, Latitude 50 – Pôle des Arts du Cirque et de la Rue in Marchin, UP – Circus & Performing Arts in Brussels, the Festival International des Arts de la Rue de Chassepierre, the Wolubilis cultural center in Brussels and the Brabant wallon cultural center in Court-Saint-Étienne.

The creation was also hosted in residence by Archipel 19, the Uccle Cultural Centre, La Maison de la Création – NOH and La Batoude in Beauvais, with the support of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation and Wallonia-Brussels Theatre Dance.

With its unique blend of juggling, clowning, theatre, object manipulation, and Belgian humor, Drache Nationale ultimately offers a delightful way to talk about things that aren't always lighthearted. A funny and touching show about failures, dreams, loss, and friendship, it reminds us that after a good downpour, there's always something left to try.

And when everything really goes wrong, it's best to have several people under one umbrella.

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