Audience Raves

"Saw #WhenAngelsFall last night (thank you #ArtsEmerson!). Mind blowing creativity. Emotional, powerful, surprising, and totally thrilling. Buying the soundtrack & officially a new fan girl of Raphaëlle Boitel's work. #Dance#theater fans in #Boston: do not miss this!" - @JulieAnneWhit

"Had the pleasure to see WHEN ANGELS FALL at @ArtsEmerson last night. Incredible piece of theatre - surprising, hilarious, spectacular, terrifying, and heartwrending. Check it out if you can, plays thru Sunday." -@JRexPlays

"Emerson/Boston friends: GO SEE THIS. One of my fave shows I’ve seen at @ArtsEmerson so far :) Simply stunning." - @sara_taylor_13

"A wonderful show tonight with Raphaëlle Boitel and her ‘when angels fall’ @ArtsEmerson. @BostonGlobe and @nytimes say it best. 4 more dates in Boston."
- @AranudMentre

Critical Praise

“When it comes to the originality of When Angels Fall, there is no room for doubt.”
- The Boston Globe

"Stunning...a blend of circus and dance set in a mechanized dystopia whose inhabitants yearn for human connection."

"Exquisitely designed and surprisingly moving"

"Ms. Boitel finds the power to break our hearts."
- The New York Times

"Visually and aurally superb"
- Theatre Mirror

"a unique and original vision by a talented troupe and its talented leader, Boitel."
- On Boston Stages

"A mesmerizing 70 minute existential Odyssey."
- Joyce Kulhawik

"Wonder creeps out of the darkness and into your mind released by the movement, music and performance in front of your eyes."
- City Living Boston

"My eyes never left the stage. The movements, the music, the aerial feats were all spellbinding."
- Boxing Over Broadway

"The truly ravishing Ms. Boitel, who might have sat for Klimt in Vienna..."
- Ben Brantley, New York Times on the director & performer of When Angels Falls

“Darkly humorous...When Angels Fall continues the long French tradition of a revolt against tyranny...To this tradition Boitel now brings the death-defying showmanship of the circus."
- NJ ARTS

“Boitel makes her directorial debut, blending circus, dance and theatre.”
- Playbill.com

"Raphaëlle Boitel [creates] an epic event...that will live on in your memory."
– Liberation [France]

Artist Interviews

"When Angels Fall is a dystopia, a fiction of anticipation. To speak of the future is, I think, the best way to speak of the present. A group of people living in a small society where all is organized, formatted and conformist."
- Raphaëlle Boitel, Journal La Terrasse

"The more that I work, the more that my shows move towards [analyzing] human nature, as that’s what intrigues me, our self-destructive facets. And so, how can we be reborn out of our ashes? How can we ameliorate ourselves through falling?"
- Raphaëlle Boitel, JunkPage Journal

"I question human nature and I leave every audience member free to take their own interpretation."
- Raphaëlle Boitel, Bordeaux

"For a long time, I thought that the role of the artist is to jolt the public. Now, I want to offer them onstage that which the world, having become too hard, doesn’t give them anymore: moments of pure love."
- Raphaëlle Boitel, Festival International Des Arts De Bordeaux Métropole

Local Previews

A Soaring Vision Of Angels At The End Of The World
- The Boston Globe

‘When Angels Fall’ Explores A Dystopian Future Through Circus And Dance
- MetroWest Daily News

A Mix Of Circus And Dance, 'When Angels Fall' Imagines A Dystopia That Pits Humanity Against Technology
- WBUR, The ARTery

On the Wing :: Raphaëlle Boitel On Her New Show 'When Angels Fall'
- Edge Media Network

Post-Apocalyptic Ambiguity Of The Inner Light: A Conversation With The Creators Of “When Angels Fall”
- The Theatre Times