La Maison des Clowns (FRANCE, GERMANY, ITALY, JAPAN…)
« Le pont (The bridge)»
Presentation
Introduction by Giovanna D'Ettorre
Biography, cast and crew, thanks
Dates, duration, price, link
First production / Circus
To go to another country is to switch from one language to another, to have difficulties understanding, to see words sometimes as mysterious abstractions. Murgle, Fritz, Bobo, Ludor and PA are 5 clowns. They all come from different places, but they all “speak clown”, an improbable but universal idiom, a language chewed up, swallowed up, a language of emotions, an integrated, “musicalised”, shifted, muted language. Not far from Les Subsistances, on the L’Homme de la Roche footbridge, they invite us to join them in the middle of the bridge of languages. This is where lexical anarchy and uncontrollable grammars are kings. At the same time, in their company, every one of us suddenly feels they have a gift for languages: with not one intelligible word, stories are being told. It is a bridge of Babel that everyone crosses with a laugh.
“The clown as a metaphor for human beings: I always see life as movement, where moods mix, slam into each other, through meaning or lack of, through the absurd or the tragic. The “Bridge of Languages” is a new project: it is where architecture and visual arts meet clowning. (...) What is a clown? ... I’m not sure.... I believe in the personal creation of the clown figure, the meaning is open, and so is the surprise. Every creation provokes new ideas, a little like cooking. Clowns are creating their own skills, so I merely invite them to attend a meeting and I suggest conditions in order for the creative process to emerge. I don’t invent the clown, I watch him live on the bridge I dreamt of... Together, we discover the emerging story with clowns who escape from my control and their own. The dream carries us, questions us, makes us doubt a little and laugh a lot. Five clowns is five stories that work together. (...) The story of the company La Maison des Clowns develops through the surprises and accidents of our experience. Space and imagination are filled with past experiences so that the audience can receive a real (clowning) experience and not just folklore.” Giovanna d’Ettorre
Biography
Italy. Giovanna d’Ettorre trained at the theatre school of the C.N.A.C in Châlons-en-Champagne, then worked in various fields - circus, theatre, cabaret, as a clown, an actor and a director. She has explored and mixed different forms of performing arts with Cie Turbulence, Cirque Plume, Théâtre des Lucioles, Alfredo Arias, Hervé Pierre, Daniel Lemahieu, Le Clown Chocolat at the Cirque du Tonnerre in Montréal, Cirque du Soleil, Christophe Huysman, etc. In parallel, she directed several shows and got involved in the activities of the FRACO (Clown and Comedian Training) in Lyon. In 2007, she founded “La Maison des Clowns” and participated in the direction of the new Rhul Casino extravaganza in Nice.
France. Following his studies at the School if Fine Arts, Côme Delain (Murgle) turned to performing arts and has performed both alone and with other artists (dancers or clowns). He created Murgle, a ambiguous character derived from the clown, alternatively a terrorist or a charmer, violent or gentle. Côme is also one of the actors of the company Deuxième Groupe d’Intervention (street theatre) with which he has been working for around 5 years. His current work is still very much protean, with many different influences and various practices such as butoh and human beat-boxing.
Germany. Heinzy Lorenzen (Fritz) has worked with the Footsbarn Travelling Theatre from 93 to 99. He has created 7 shows and toured everywhere in the world to perform them. These shows include Le Conte d’hiver, Don Juan and L’Arbre à Palabres. He has been working since 2001 as a teacher and director at the Scène Sur Saône where he writes new plays and adaptations. He co-founded the F.R.A.C.O. (Clown and Comedian Training) and was its educational director in 2004-05. In 2003, he performs in a play directed by Olivier Perrier (Fédérés CDN Montluçon), Brecht’s A Respectable Wedding. In 1999, he founded Théâtre Des Racines Nées and in 2004, he joined La Maison des Clowns.
France. Following a literature degree at the Parisian university La Sorbonne, Cédric Paga (Ludor Citrik) dived into the world of performing arts as an actor, a dancer, a circus artist and a clown. He is a true autodidact who has explored his personality with Laurent Gauthier, Mario Gonzales, Eric Blouet, La Clown Compagnie, Cirque Romanes, and La Muse Gueule (circus performance). In 2008, he created the clown named Ludor Citrik. He first worked on improvisation but after winning the 2002 prize for Best Circus Budding Talent, he created the show Je ne suis pas un numéro. Following several partnerships in dance and theatre, he joined “La Maison des Clowns” in 2004. In 2007, he wrote and created Mon Pire Cauchemar and participated in a show choreographed by Kader Belarbi from the Paris Opera.
France. Following his “Sport-Étude” training (sports + studies) specialising in rock-climbing in Barcelonnette, Anicet Leone (PA) trained for three years at the Ecole des Beaux Arts (school of fine arts) of Avignon. This was where he discovered performance and performing arts during a clowning workshop with Benjamin Dukhan. He immerged himself in the world of circus (at the Ecole Piste d'Azur in La Roquette/Siagne, and the Ecole du Lido in Toulouse) and developed his work as a Chinese Pole acrobat. He continued to work on his skills as a clown during various courses with Cédric Paga, Eric Blouet and on various occasions when he started to perform for an audience, mixing circus skills and his experience as a rock climber.
Japan. Gen Shimaoka (the Passer-By) is a theatre actor, a musician and a composer. He studied English literature at Kwansi Gakuin University in Japan for 5 years, then left for the U.S. in 1984. He learnt and practiced double bass at the Southern Methodist University (Master of music) in Dallas then at Juilliard School (Professional Studies Program) in New York. He arrived in Paris in 1990 and started teaching double bass at the Institute François Rabbah, took a drama course at the Alliance Française and practised opera singing (baritone and countertenor). He became a soloist in several orchestras in France and abroad, such as the Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa (Japan), the Ensemble Orchestral Harmonia Nova (Paris), and The Juilliard Orchestra (New York). He played jazz for Quartet (with Ralph Thomas, Regilnaldo Batista, and Ted Hawke) and Trio (with Ton Xavier and Ted Hawke). Between 1997 and 2003, he appeared in several theatre plays with Masaki Iwana, Giovanna d'Ettorre, Angela Laurier, Les Colporteurs, etc. and on the big screen in Alain Corneau’s Stupeur et tremblement.
Cast and crew & thanks
Directed by Giovanna d’Ettorre. The clowns are Anicet Leone (PA), Cédric Paga (Ludor Citrik), Heinzi Karl Lorenzen (Fritz), Boris Arquier (Bobo), Côme Delain (Murgle). The passer-by: Gen Shimaoka. Sirlence : Jean Tremble. and Gen Shimaoka. Scenography by Goury. Production & Residence: Les Subsistances / Lyon / France
Dates
Thursday 3, Friday 4, Saturday 5, Sunday 6 april 08
First production / Circus