INTERNATIONAL THEATRE FESTIVAL
Theatre de la Marmaille and Teatro dell’Angolo
In the beginning was not the word–it was the image. Mountains arrived aeons before there were symbols for them. This priority of things over thought was also apparent in the creation of drama–the gods were mimed in ritual before they were addressed in person. That priority still holds. Images speak when words fail; they crystallize discoveries that evaporate if literally stated. So when stage pictures alone carry the weight of meaning, what’s revealed feels strangely pure.
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Le Cirque Imaginaire is a labor of love from a deft duo, Victoria Chaplin (third daughter of the great Charlie) and her husband Jean-Baptiste Thierree. This homey spectacle, with its menagerie of untamed ducks, rabbits, and doves and its grab bag of unashamedly hokey magic tricks, is its own excuse for being: “Having no explanation to give, no theory or defense, no ideology to promote, no anecdote to tell, and no confidence to reveal, we just content ourselves with putting on the show.”
As the title hints, Le Cirque Imaginaire enlisted a collective imagination. Uncloyingly sweet and as spontaneous as a child’s first stab at make-believe, Le Cirque Imaginaire substituted dexterous ingenuity for the usual three-ring Barnum glitz; in its magic circle, Thierree’s inspired clowning was combined with Chaplin’s heart-stopping acrobatics and mime work–all enhanced by enchantingly clever props, masks, and costumes. Among these were a Dumbo-like elephant on stilts that delicately cavorted above a scurrying mouse, a skeleton that rode on the back of a tandem bike with a skeleton dog, and a man who carried his head on his back like a parcel. (Fellini would love this froth.)
Nothing pretentious here, no tumbling chandeliers or underground lakes–just the fun of royally putting on the audience and watching them buy it over and over. Less is more is circus.
Michel Robidoux’ synthesizer score, which formed a continuous and supple environmental backdrop, combined nature (the sounds of sea and wind) and culture (muted allusions to Verdi and others); these sounds blended with the cryptic images that were beautifully lit from the side and behind to yield a disarming magic that outweighed any need to explain it. The work’s minimal performance-art pictures and movements triggered reactions that words just clutter with detail. Austerity was essential to this eloquent microcosm.
