Ma Biche et mon lapin

"The object, its poetry and its misuses have always had a strong place in arts. It was already an important strand in the Dada movement or with the surrealists for example. These experimentations with familiar objects are interesting because they enable the performers to build a connection based on an agreement with the audience. For example: if the performer holds a banana like a revolver this banana IS a revolver. If everyone plays the game than it creates a great complicity between the performers and the audience and everything becomes possible."

Ah, complicity between the audience and the performers. No one talks about it much - at least not in the bar after the show - but it really is at the core of the theatrical experience. With the possible exception of those times I have been so high on the brilliance of an artist that I mistook what was happening on stage for a dream or a vision from God (yes, I am talking about Iona Kewney here), I tend to think that performance is happening outside my consciousness. But after throwing a shoe at Audience (Fringe 2011), I have become fascinated by the idea that the true performance happens in my mind, man.


And that, in a final attempt to pull my pontifications back into line with the actual subject of the article, is where puppetry is magical. Collectif Aïe Aïe Aïe - who provided my introductory quote, are coming to the Fringe to poke at couples using little more than their hands and a knitted rabbit. 

Collectif Aïe Aïe Aïe, being from France, probably have a stronger connection to the idea of puppetry as an experimental art form - European puppetry includes works that get inside the mind of a serial killer and contemplate the awkward sensation of being suspended between two worlds. With the Institut Francais backing them up, and a previous Fringe success under their belts, the Collectif are ready to challenge that... horrible old cliche... notion that... I am sick of saying it... puppetry is just for children.  


Why the Fringe?
We were already performing at the Fringe in Two Johnnies Live Upstairs at the Institut Francais last year.  We were these weird scientists who were experimenting crash tests on cute little rabbit puppets… this cranky performance made a great impression on the audience and the Institute is inviting us back this year. We are presenting a new show with rabbits again, but not only…

What will make this show stand out?

We can’t predict anything! But this is a friendly, surprising, light and delicate show and we hope it will appeal to the imagination of everyone. The stories we tell are those of couples, a topic that is pretty universal. We are approaching it with humour and a lot of self-mockery. The show is funny as well as darkly humorous. And we are very proud of our tuning on terrines and soup tureens…


Where did the idea for the show start ? 

On a shelf at home, we had these two terrines (in the shape of a hind and a rabbit), inherited from a granny. Their outdated and kitsch look amused us and gave us the idea to make a show about couples. We thought of customising them with small headphones then associating these tacky items with modern music tracks to make the ‘old’ rub shoulders with the ‘new’ and to evoke generation gaps and passing time…  


In brief, Ma biche et mon Lapin takes puppetry and filters it through an old school vaudeville style, using objects like Chaplin used bread-rolls to describe the way that couples get it on and then break up. Nothing on stage is what it seems and no object is used for what it’s usually useful for. The magic of the human mind does the rest, detecting life in the inanimate object and building an emotional meaning behind the movements. 


It's better than Paul Daniels. 

Ma Biche et mon Lapin

Institut français d’Ecosse
August 4-10, 13-17, 20-24, 12.25 pm, 3.25 pm and 5.25 pm (30 mins)