In the beginning was clay. Lebanese performing arts company Collectif Kahraba tells us the genealogy of tales through this material. In Géologie d’une Fable [Origin of a Tale], layers, piles, blocks or bas-reliefs of clay are modelled on stage by two performers who thereby bring figures and spaces to life. The show, which combines storytelling, dance and object manipulation, reflects the interwoven influences and timeless power of these stories. The imaginative fables of La Fontaine or Marie de France were inspired by the stories of Greek Aesop and by Persian retellings of Indian tales. Even before language had attained a certain level of sophistication, fables managed to cross times and continents through oral transmission. The first of them all may even have been modelled in clay. Géologie d’une Fable brings us back to that essence, while reminding us that stories are perhaps the only things that transcend borders.