Paris De Nuit will be at the Assembly Palais De Variete at George Square Gardens for the month of August for tickets go to www.edfringe.com
1.What was the inspiration for this performance?
Paris de Nuit was triggered by a very famous photographer called Brassaï. He was the first photographer able to capture night visions. It means he used a technique that could capture pictures in the dark. Living in the 1920’s and ‘30’s of Paris his art wasn’t about capturing trees and street pedestrians but he had quite a curiosity for bordels (brothels), the backstage world of the Folies Bergère and the Moulin rouge, the nights when the real Paris showed its face.
First of all I find his photography work extraordinary. Second, Brassai not only capture these characters of the night, but wrote their portraits. The story of these people inspired to create “Paris de Nuit” which is actually grammatically not correct.
French would say “Paris la nuit” meaning “Paris at night” but “Paris de nuit” means the night possesses its own Paris. The night is in control of a strange Paris that the audience would be able to see in our show.
2.Is performance still a good space for the public discussion of ideas?
It is, definitely. Performance has probably the strongest effect on people. Just recently Recirquel was touring in Tel Aviv at the Opera house. During the whole tour, all our shows I had the feeling that israelian people understand how to live in the present and live the present. Might be because of the war, being always forced to have an understanding of the present.
Recirquel performing in Tel Aviv, the special connection our company created with the audience there made me realise how amazing differences there are in our world and how much this differences can be felt through the reaction different type of audiences give to a performance. Creating a performance is always like talking to people, starting a conversation.
3.How did you become interested in making performance?
My belief is that certain things in life are coded
Seriously speaking in my opinion to make a performance you have to be a story teller.
Not only to be a good story teller, but to understand how stories can affect people. How they can actually reach the inside of one and after entering inside, how they can make a change, a good or a bad one.
4.Is there any particular approach to the making of the show?
The creation of a show is divided in more sections. Recirquel Company’s productions are always a bit a “team work” as well. The basic inspiration of a show comes from me, it’s like weaving a net that is quite small at the beginning but with the passing of time, thinking it over and over again it’s enlarging.
At a certain point when I feel the time arrived I share this net with my performers and my creative team. This is the moment when the net starts to change it’s dimensions as we are strengthening it all together and slowly comes to life.
However I am convinced that a project needs to be led by one person, this is the role of the director. Simply because the vision where the production finds it’s root needs to stay clear during the whole process of creation.
5. Does the show fit with your usual
Recirquel has five productions, three of them (Night Circus, The Naked Clown and Paris de Nuit) are a big trilogy. In all our shows the performers are the same and this is one of the things that makes Recirquel particular.
While most of the circus shows tend to change performers for each production, Recirquel’s policy is to keep and strengthen them: give extra education, „power” that helps them to … their performance on stage more and more. Like a painter who learns how to paint with more and more colors.
Paris de Nuit was our third project together. My company members had grown older during the first two productions, they had become more an adult so we decided to talk about something more daring, little bit more sexual compared to the previous shows. This was the moment we found Brassai and made our jump into the world of the 1930’s parisian varietes and bordells and bring them back to life.
6. What do you hope that the audience will experience?
We hope Paris de Nuit on one hand is like a time travel for the audience: we bring our audience back to the 1930’s Paris. However while creating this show it was especially important for me not only to give a fancy, glossy variety to the spectator but to show both faces of these parisian nights. So the audience will see performers with their greatest shine, shining like stars and then again they will witness the dark side of these characters or we might as well just call it „reality”.
Walking into the set of Paris de Nuit is like walking into a Parisian bar of the period. The audience is seated around tables, on these tables artists are actually performing. It was my other key thought during the creation. To give a close and intimate experience first of all and with this to give back the reality of cabaret theatre.
In the situation of Paris de Nuit not only the audience is the one who gets close and gets to see every little detail but also the performers get to see the face of the audience. Reaction time gets short and therefor reactions are more honest. True reaction is the essence of cabaret. And actually the reason what made me reasearch this genre so much in the past.
7. What strategies did you consider towards shaping this audience experience?
It was important not to „bother” the audience. I think when people go to the theatre they like to be amused but not to be bothered. So in Paris de Nuit though performers get close to spectators, sitting in their laps or whispering in the ears, handbalancing above their heads, it’s never about making them feel uncomfortable.
No-one is dragged on stage. Cabaret is about erasing the wall between the stage and the audience but it’s also about enjoying the comfort of darkness that allows you to stay bit hidden if you would like. Seeing reflections of the others in the mirror but your privacy stays untouched.
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