Les Bouffons de Luxe are 7 people, a collective of actors, directors, teachers, singers and theatre company directors, who work in theatres, in the street, in circuses, schools, concert halls, opera houses, prisons, psychiatric hospitals, etc. All are working to develop individual creative processes, and explore new forms of exchange with the public. For 4 days, Les Bouffons will act as a link between Les Subsistances and the public, with several roles: to direct, heckle, unwind, play on the topic of languages, develop a language of information…
At Les Subsistances, jesters will compete to win public votes regarding the relevance and irreverence of the information that they will deliver during the Ça Tchatche WeekEnd, with the help of presentation videos, individual portraits, personal jingles, and individual feats. The public vote, which will take place live, will decide who is the best jester and punish the worse one in a cathartic game.
“The ‘bouffon’ (jester) is an ambiguous character. He is both in and out, actor and spectator. He is insolent because he is over the top, not only because he is provocative and ironic. He is supposed to debunk everything: sexuality, the royalty, traditional customs for example. He reverses signs. He represents a distorting mirror to the (micro)society in which he lives. He makes people laugh without acting happy. The jester is not a fool. He questions reason without losing his. He is the man of counter-utopia, the man who sells the opposite of dreams. He always finds ulterior motives, he reads between the lines. But he doesn’t suggest an action, his action is free in the sense that it is freely given (outside of any social scheme). Today, the jester might be more king than king’s fool. The jester represents what remains falsely great and elitist inside democracy. Contemporary jesters represent economic, political and industrial power, but on the condition that what they do is entertaining, that they make it special. When this passion for difference is found in democratic equality, it is seen as foolish. (...)” The jester figure according to philosopher Gérard Guièze. Interviewed by Olivier Papot.
Cast and crew & thanks
With Olivier Antoine, Flavie Avargues, Julie Binot, Beatrice Chatron, Céline Deridet, Eric Massé, and Olivier Papot Production & Residence: Les Subsistances / Lyon / France