FESTIVAL FEATURES | Red Bastard |
THE LEGACY OF LECOQ It’s not just crimson bastards who enjoy a spot of French physicality. Gareth K Vile looks at the influence of mime artist Jacques Lecoq at this year’s festival
ll b ‘You will be intricately and intimately involved’
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of a growing number of performers at this year’s festival working in physical theatre, the body communicates as much as the mouth.
His practice goes back to the big names of European clowning: ‘I studied with people who taught at Lecoq: Ron and Ludvika Popenhagen and Philippe Gaulier.’ The style of the show i ts in with that French approach: he is a bouffon, the traditional antagonist to the clown who, rather than evoking sympathy by presenting a naive vulnerability, makes the audience feel vulnerable and challenges their assumptions. Indeed, one of the highlights of the show is the ‘i nd a clown’ session, in which he pursues the clowns hidden in the audience with the focus of a velociraptor hunting down errant Hollywood stars. ‘I also studied with Sue Morrison, who did not go to Lecoq, but was a student of Gaulier and Richard Pochinko – a Canadian who also attended the school and went on to combine the European Lecoq style with native American clowning practices.’
The last inl uence is telling: far from being the childish interlude in circus entertainment – as in Europe, even though Lecoq and others have reintroduced a more artistic version – the clown has a sacred place in native American ritual, representing the Trickster God. This God, who often manifests as a coyote, is neither good nor evil: through his amoral antics, he frequently drives the development of creation and human society. He is not necessarily friendly or welcome, but he is vital to evolution and has a wicked sense of humour.
Red Bastard has the qualities of the Trickster God – sometimes evil, sometimes benign, but really far beyond such petty dei nitions of morality. In particular, Red Bastard is evangelical about the joy of being a Bastard. By the end of his show, he presents the audience with a stark choice: embrace your inner Bastard, or remain a frightened coward. ‘In moments of ecstasy, rage, jubilation or enlightenment – you know what it is to be a Bastard,’ he insists. ‘All else is chickenshit.’ It’s inevitable that the stage is not enough for Red Bastard: rumours of happenings and a mysterious busker dressed in red escaping the scene of the crime have been i ltering through from festivals around the world. Suitably for a man who wants to change the world, question authority and confront lazy assumptions, Red Bastard is taking it to the street. ‘It is possible you may see me prowling around in George Square,’ he smiles. ‘Come say hello. There’s no avoiding our meeting.’
Red Bastard, Assembly George Square, 623 3030, 3–26 Aug (not 7, 14), 4.40pm, £11–£13 (£10–£12). Previews 1 & 2 Aug, £7.
22 THE LIST FESTIVAL 1–8 Aug 2013
Physical theatre is on the rise: last year, Doctor Brown won the Foster’s Edinburgh Comedy Award with a show that displayed his remarkable mime skills, and a generation of graduates from the Lecoq School arrived at the Fringe to reclaim the clown from the circus.
British physical theatre had a revival in the 1980s, thanks
to Complicite and DV8, but recent years have seen European approaches arrive in the UK. Clout, who have been touring their 2012 Fringe success How A Man Crumbled, return with The Various Lives of Ini nite Nullity and fellow Lecoq alumni Rhum and Clay present The Man in the Moone (pictured above), an antiquarian science i ction adventure. French mime artist Jacques Lecoq developed his particular
style of visual performance during the 20th century, founding his L’École Internationale de Théâtre in the 1950s. His background in gymnastics and performing Commedia dell’arte, evolved into a fascination with the body, masks and movement as essential tools for theatre. It’s a style that’s capable of telling comedic and tragic tales:
Theatre Ad Ini nitum’s Ballad of The Burning Star manages both, while Chickenshed, whose director Kieran Fay trained with Lecoq, examine Mugabe’s rule in Zimbabwe through The Rain That Washes.
For Rhum and Clay, the reasons for the success of Lecoq
are clear. ‘At the school you are encouraged to work creatively and make theatre with the other students,’ they explain. ‘This collaboration continues after school, with many students making companies together – that’s what happened with us.’
Ad Ini nitum were one of the i rst Lecoq-inl uenced companies to astound Fringe audiences with Translunar Paradise, a meditation on mourning. Their latest show, Ballad of the Burning Star, is even more ambitious, as director, writer and performer Nir Paldi grapples with his Israeli homeland.
‘Lecoq teaches you to focus always on the theatre you’re making,’ says Paldi. ‘One of the most interesting elements to Ballad’s creative process has been discovering how clown and tragedy are connected – in this case through cabaret and drag.’
This versatility allows Lecoq theatre to integrate different
genres: it offers the opportunity to use masks, choreography and puppetry, as well as the spectacular visual image. At the same time, it rejects nothing: unlike strict mime, it need not abandon the text – from Red Bastard’s ferocious monologue, through Paldi’s adventurous synthesis of forms, to Clout and Rhum and Clay’s wild absurdism, Lecoq has become a foundation for challenging, witty and engaging performance.
■ The Man in the Moone, Pleasance Courtyard, 556 6550, 3–25 Aug (not 12, 20), 3.50pm, £10.50–£12.50 (£9.50–£11.50). Previews 31 Jul–2 Aug, £6. ■ Ballad of the Burning Star, Pleasance Dome, 556 6550, 3–26 Aug (not 13, 20), 5.15pm, £11–£13 (£8.50–£12). Previews 31 Jul–2
Aug, £7.50.