A PRODUCTION BY
PIERRE GUILLOIS AND OLIVIER MARTIN-SALVAN
Length: 1H20Min
ALL AGES
INDOOR AND OUTDOOR PERFORMANCES
Starring —
Olivier Martin-Salvan
in rotation with Jonathan Pinto-Rocha and Pierre Bénézit
Starring —
Pierre Guillois
in rotation with Grégoire Lagrange and Baptiste Chabauty
An imposing Shakespearian actor tells (in incomprehensible English, even to an inhabitant of Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564) of one man’s (his ancestor, perhaps?) incredible centuries-long journey through Europe; a man who, by the banks of a fjord in the remote Faroe Islands (in a particular year which has probably long since been forgotten) is cursed by a mermaid he’d absent-mindedly caught in frozen (yet salty) waters under the paradoxically wonderful auspices of the Northern Lights, which were bejewelled, at that very moment, by a late flight of cranes on their way to Africa.
That’s how the story begins. The man then crosses land and sea, making one journey after another, perhaps becoming a king (but more likely a beggar), and probably being hanged, drawn and quartered or subjected to the Catherine Wheel in some barbaric land; or maybe he becomes a confectioner in a country with a steaming-hot climate; unless, in the end, he simply comes home to die an easy (yet anticlimactic) death one fine spring evening, amid the buzz of midges and horseflies, welcomed by his old mother (who’s almost more heroic than him), and, as he’s not really had the time to do so until now, ponders the meaning of life.
The actor (of undeniably large proportions) is accompanied by a flunky (a stage manager or supporting actor) whose competence is certainly questionable and who is as puny as his companion is portly; who strives (half naked, poor man) for more than one hour, with the help of hastily-scribbled cardboard signs and other boxes (all cardboard and of varying quality), to help us understand the meaning of this journey, which no-one would describe as a maiden voyage, but whose symbolism has been so well-digested over the years that all that remains of this long circumnavigation is the impression of a pointless search for happiness that this over-satisfied gentleman was clearly never going to attain.
- 21/08/2023 -
‘Pure genius that is unlikely to be bettered at this or any other Fringe. This has to be the must-see show of Edinburgh Fringe 2023.’ ★★★★★ The Reviews Hub
- 10/08/2023 -
★★★★★They were the breakout Fringe hit of 2019 with Fishbowl, and now Pierre Guillois and Olivier Martin-Salvan are back in Edinburgh with a new Molière Award winning comedy fit for the climate crisis era.
- 06/08/2023 -
***** Five stars Described as a cross between Monty Python and Laurel and Hardy with an essence of the Mighty Boosh thrown in, it is suitable for all ages to enjoy and you can be left with no doubt that they will exceed every expectation.
- -
Pierre Guillois is an ecstatically creative outlier. This show renders wordless tribute to the burlesque of silent cinema and the gags of slapstick. Irresistible
- 06/02/2023 -
Another oddball success, "Fat People Skate Well. A Cardboard Cabaret “won a number of awards in France this year, and they were thoroughly deserved.
- -
Since its creation in 2020, the “cardboard cabaret” created by burlesque duo Pierre Guillois and Olivier Martin-Salvan has met with huge success and has been in demand in theatres throughout France.
Technical direction
Colin Plancher
Cardboard design
Charlotte Rodière
Prop master
Emilie Poitaux
Sound designer
Loïc Le Cadre
Costume adviser
Coco Petitpierre
Tour assistant
Thylda Barès
Production management
Colin Plancher in rotation with Jérôme Pérez, Cyril Chardonnet and Coline Senée
Stage management
Emilie Poitaux in rotation with Elvire Tapie and Lorraine Kerlo Aurégan
Production Attachée
Christelle Fleury
Distribution
Séverine André Liebaut
Séverine Diffusion
Administration
Sophie Perret
Administrative assistant
Fanny Landemaine
Production assistants
Margaux du Pontavice and Louise Devinck
Communication
Anne-Catherine Minssen, ACFM les Composantes
Production
Compagnie le Fils du Grand Réseau
PRODUCTION
Compagnie Le Fils du Grand Réseau
The project
After 14 years of friendship, Olivier Martin-Salvan and Pierre Guillois dreamed of doing a two-man show. The pair — who are not exactly clowns and draw inspiration from Anglo-Saxon slapstick — wanted the project to help them reach larger and more diverse audiences.
During their first rehearsal, they began writing with thick black markers on cardboard boxes found in a corner, imagining the props and sets for a story whose infinite possibilities suddenly blossomed, thanks to this time-tested creative process.
Drawing on their experience of prop management from Fish Bowl and the poetry they perceive in this aspect of the theatre, Olivier and Pierre gradually developed the absurd journey of a man who, without ever moving, crosses Europe and will probably make it around the world with the help of his companion. This sidekick, though puny, manages to produce, behind the traveller’s back, images of the landscapes, people and objects he encounters along the way.
The nerve centre of this show is the contrast between the immobile traveller — played by Martin-Salvan, a virtuoso of invented language — and the bumbling, fumbling prop man, played by a hyperactive Guillois whose desperate efforts save the day.
