Massimo Furlan / Numero23Prod.

Vidéos

Chanteur plutôt qu’acteur

Singer rather then actor

A project by Massimo Furlan, Claire de Ribaupierre and Marielle Pinsard
Festival d’Avignon/Sacd. NUMERO23Prod. (CH)
Performance: 17 to 25 July 2008, Avignon Festival

A debate on the question of identity and filation in theatrical arts

The concept

For this production, neither Massimo Furlan or Marielle Pinsard propose a theatrical performance. They react to the Avignon Festival’s programme, as well as to the location of the production: the title «Sujet à vif» (Live Issues), immediately evokes the question of the debate, of the round table, of a discussion among several participants concerning a topical theme which concerns the visitors of the Avignon Festival and contemporary artistic scenes. The location, the Garden of the Virgin, is also related to the context of the debate.

With this proposition, the idea is to manipulate a form dear to the French public, the debate, and in particular to intervene in the register of the frequent discussions concerning the history of Avignon and its festival.

The protagonists invited by Massimo Furlan and Marielle Pinsard, propose reflections and hypotheses taking as starting point a skewed theme:
«Why did Jean Vilar, a great man of theatre and founder of the Avignon Festival in 1947, have a son – Hervé Vilard – who chose not theatre but singing?»

Specialists of the question of transmission, of genealogy, philosophers, historians, actors, probe together different strands:
– The theatre actor, even the most famous, is not well known to the general public, who would not recognise him in the street. He frequently dreams of changing careers and to become a rock or variety singer in order to touch thousands of spectators and thus be loved by all.

– The quasi anonymity of men of theatre, who exist through their names, but who’s faces are unknown (either because it always changes, as is the case for a theatre actor, or because it does not appear on stage, for the director), will be explored in the following way: Massimo Furlan and Marielle Pinsard usurp the identity of Romeo Castellucci and Valérie Dreville, who are supposed to participate in the debate as artists associated with the festival. They borrow a name, a few minimal characteristics (being a French woman, a theatre actress for Marielle Pinsard and Valérie Dreville, being a man of Italian origin and having a training in fine arts for Massimo Furlan and Romeo Castellucci). Starting from these minimal convergences, everything is possible.

– The question of the transmission of a heritage, from father to son, of the father as model and of the son trying to free himself of this model or on the contrary to conform to it, is a question that traverses Western history, and in particular Christianity, with the exemplary story of the Christ.

Form
In order to answer the question «Why singer rather then actor?», we propose a changeable formula: every day different guests join us, which allows the debate to be renewed daily and maintain a performance mode.
Further more, this project is lead by an authentic radio host and not by an actor.

We seriously follow the usal protocol typical of debates and roundtables. The radio host presents his guests according to their function and competences. The presentation discourse lends credibility to the participants. The host has prepared a number of questions he asks his gests, in relation to their ideas and positions and the themes of the debate – that is the questions of filiation, transmission, of distinction, and more specifically of the choice of a career: singer rather then actor. Each guest answers the questions of the debate, and engages the other’s responses according to their competences.
Every day, the debate is different, in function of the guests, of their interactions, and the questions addressed. Several canvases are drawn beforehand, and depending on their articulation, alter the unfolding of the image.

The image: the blunder and the crisis
Once they sit on the terraces, the spectators take the project seriously and are slowly submerged by doubt concerning the debate and the identity of the protagonists.
First they are confronted with a classical debate setting: a few chairs, a few microphones, a small table, a mixing console, a piano.
This image is progressively submerged by all sorts of parasites of different types:
– unexpected guests: the Virgin appears at the window of the Covent, in her garden, with her child Jesus (as a baby), and her adult son (Jesus at the end of his life).
– technical problems: microphone problems, audio feedback, divers noises, break downs…
– a play on the rules of the debate and on accidents: the host does not listen to the answers, the guests don’t answer the questions, the host loses his notes and gets in a muddle.

Location and underlying issues
Why are the Virgin and Jesus present? Because of the location first of all, in this garden the Garden of the Virgin, one can imagine an appearance, an incarnation. A beautiful courtyard, in the open air: a bucolic location.
But also because for the question of filiation, the figure of the Christ is central: an exemplary son, an absent father, an omnipresent mother. The participants on stage also address these issues in their interventions.

The debate, apart from the skewed question, Vilar/Vilard and the idiotic nature of its title (Singer rather then actor), addresses essential questions: the role of fathers, the question of transmission, of difference, of heritage, of identity and construction of self. The debate also addresses imposture, the relation between reality and fiction. It also addresses the question of cultures of classes: elite culture (Jean Vilar) and popular culture (Hervé Vilard), which are joined together through the fascinating play on the spelling of their patronyms (see Georges Perec), with only a “d” marking their difference.

Singer rather then actor uses a typical image, that of the roundtable, known to all, and proposes all sorts of anecdotes, accidents, and drifts. A new image is thus born, much more baroque, strange, enigmatic, chaotic and burlesque, that addresses détournement (of a setting) and belief (belief and faith in the specialist speakers, faith in the serious nature of the debate related to the radio transmission and the professional setting of presentation, faith in the protocol, etc.)

With the participation of:
Massimo Furlan, Marielle Pinsard, Karelle Ménine, Claire de Ribaupierre, Philippe de Rham, Thomas Hempler
Bernard Stiegler, Serge Margel, Hervé Vilard, Marc Augé, Philippe Mesnard, Alessio Moretti, Romeo Castellucci, Pierre-Olivier Dittmar, Valérie Dreville

A coproduction:
Festival d’Avignon, Sacd, Paris

With the support of:
Loterie romande, Etat de Vaud, Pro Helvetia – Fondation suisse pour la culture, Ville de Lausanne