Theatre - circus

23.24.25.26 april 09

Thursday, Friday 7.15pm / Saturday 5:30pm / Sunday 2.15pm

One parrot, one cat, two women, and two men form on the stage a clever little mix of man and beast, word and movement. What type of relation do we have with the animal, this ‘other creature’ often humiliated and despised but also loved, adored, this ‘almost’-brother? We say ‘almost’, says Jade Duviquet, as if talking about ‘almost-brothers’ in a recomposed family, we call our animals merely our ‘almost..’. Duviquet, the co-founder of the Compagnie du Singe Debout with Cyril Casmèze, a zoomorphic actor cum creator, has created a show including actors, circus artists, visual artists and critters in order to examine our relationship with those hairy and feathered creatures whose destiny we share.

See synopsis (pdf in french/48KB)

’’For a while now, and beyond the man-animal-man transformations of my previous shows (Animalité, Un grand singe à l’Académie), I have been wanting to discuss this very specific empathy that man has for the animal, this friendship or even this projection, in any case a loving and respectful companionship. And at the same time, I wanted to explore its darker side, that of our casual attitude or even cruelty towards animals, which are often used and abused.

As these thoughts developed, I was also reading Elisabeth de Fontenay’s Silence des bêtes and Sans offenser le genre humain. In this particular show, three types of relations between man and beast are evoked. The first one: the obsession about really getting into the other’s skin. A text by Rilke, in his Letters to a young piano player, affected me deeply and seems to me like a very precise expression of Cyril Casmèze’s particularity, his desire to ’’slip into the dog, in its exact centre, into the very space that makes him a dog’’. The second one is the obvious love shared with the animal, a relation freely inspired by Flaubert’s short story Un cœur simple. Trapeze artist Hélène de Vallombreuse, with her parrot called Zazou, seemed the obvious choice for the character of Flaubert’s Félicité. The third relation examines the place of man in relation to the animal.

Derrida’s The Animal That Therefore I Am gives a wonderful texture to this issue: ’’Who am I? Who to ask this question but to others? Why not to the cat himself?’’ Nicolas Reggiani will be the one tackling this part.

The dark aspect of our relation to animals is conveyed by pictures and objects, miniature animals, directed on stage by Mélanie Mazoyer, which suggest the mystery of the animal’s eyes. Jean-Marc Istria’s strange and organic soundscape plays a role in this production that is physical, visual and textual, and which provokes thoughts in us humans, animals among other animals.’’ Jade Duviquet

Background

Jade Duviquet has directed, among others, Un grand singe à l’Académie and CQPVD ou ce que parler veut dire? (created at Les Subsistances during the Ça Tchatche! WeekEnd in April 2008), for the Compagnie du Singe Debout. She has also worked in partnership with video makers, photographers and filmmakers including Christine François, with whom she wrote and shot Le Chemin de Jade. As an actor, she has also played for Jean-Yves Ruf, Jean-Paul Wenzel, Jérôme Savary, François Rollin, Edouard Baer, Antoine Bourseiller, Cédric Kahn, Chantal Ackerman, etc.

Cyril Casmèze, zoomorphic actor-creator in the Compagnie du Singe Debout, has also been involved in several productions by circuses Cirque Plume and Archaos. He has performed on stage under the directing of - among others - Michel Guigon, Jean-Yves Ruf, Marie-Claude Morland and Marion Lévy, and on the big screen for Alain Chabat, Edouard Baer, Jean-Jacques Annaud and the Larrieu brothers.

Hélène de Vallombreuse is a trapeze artist with animals. She has worked with circuses such as Romanes, Annie Fratellini, Archaos, dance and theatre companies (Karine Saporta, Clémence Massart, Yannis Kokkos, etc.) and, more recently, at the movies with Jacques Rivette and Jane Birkin.

Nicolas Reggiani, from the famous Reggiani family, has always been surrounded by words. He is a director, an actor and a singer, for himself and others. He has worked in partnership with, among others, Giovanni Mirabassi, Noëlle Renaude, and Patrick Schulman and shared the stage with singers such as Arthur H, Les Têtes raides, Sanseverino, Serge Reggiani, etc.

Mélanie Mazoyer is an actor, a puppeteer and a visual artist, who has worked with, among others, the Théâtre de la Licorne, La Jacquerie, La Fabrique et La Compagnie Tangible. She had already been involved once with the Compagnie du Singe Debout, for Un grand singe à l’Académie (inspired by Kafka).

Jean-Marc Istria is a sound engineer who has created soundtracks for Jean-Claude Fall, Michel Didym, Jérôme Savary, Jean-Yves Ruf, Gilles Martin, etc. He had been a part of Unplusun, Un grand singe à l’Académie and CQPVD ou ce que parler veut dire?.

Zazou, the parrot, has a lot of stage experience. Charlie the cat is starting his career as a performer with the Compagnie du Singe Debout.

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Cast and crew

Designed, adapted and directed by Jade Duviquet.

Assistante : Aline Braz da Silva

Performed by Cyril Casmèze, Mélanie Mazoyer, Nicolas Reggiani, Hélène de Vallombreuse, Zazou & Charlie.

Sound by Jean-Marc Istria.

Pictures and props by Mélanie Mazoyer - assistante Sarah Holveck.

Lighting by Jean-Marc Skatchko.

Thanks to

Production: Compagnie du Singe Debout.

Co-production & Residence: Les Subsistances / Lyon / France, La Maison de la Culture de Bourges. With the support of L’Espace Marcel Carné in Saint Michel sur Orge and Théâtre Nanterre-Amandiers.

Price

€5

Duration

1 hr 15 min approx

Residence

16 - 28 february, 16-28 march, 20-26 april 09

Tour dates

January 2010 : Maison de la Culture de Bourges.

Link

www.singedebout.com