Sound and Light Show: The Bell Tower Keeper - Ars Spectacles

This new sound and light show has been redesigned and staged since 2019. It involves around fifty volunteers, including permanent residents and a few young seasonal workers, who are proud to perform in memory of their ancestors. Ars en Fête creates the sets, costumes, and staging. This project unites the residents and visitors, sharing the history and heritage of Ars. The association is committed to sharing the rich history of this corner of the world with passing tourists. The spirit of the bell tower guardian entered the church walls four hundred years ago. During a tourist visit, a woman, having fallen behind the group, became trapped in the bell tower and called for help. The spirit of this benevolent guardian contacted her through his voice and his shadow, visible on the bell tower balcony. He recounts what life was like in Casserons, each memory transformed into a short play performed in front of the church's northeast door, on the church square. Sadi Carnot's visit to Casserons, the threshing, the Old Guard, the Bell, the Revolution, the Lord… Accompanied by a recorded soundtrack and short films projected onto the church wall, volunteer actors perform these scenes. The final scene depicts the Liberation, featuring a vintage Jeep and members of the French Forces of the Interior (FFI) Resistance network. Other volunteer actors portray the various trades practiced here, some of which still exist today: basket weaving, fishing in the fish weirs, salt harvesting in the salt marshes, winemaking… Far from being static, this performance evolves each year, with new scenes added.