Beautiful Losers(Diptych)
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LICHEN-MAN BEAUTIFUL LOSERS(diptych) THE SHAGGS LICHEN-MAN THE SHAGGS Adapted and directed by Frédéric Sonntag Written and directed by Frédéric Sonntag based on Prestige de l’Uniforme Adapted from articles and testimonies by Loo Hui Phang and Hugues Micol about The Shaggs available for touring available for touring AsaNIsiMAsa Company AsaNIsiMAsa Company BEAUTIFUL LOSERS The diptych is available for touring in 2017 / 2018. PREVIOUS TOUR DATES DIPTYCH Nov. 3rd and 4th, 2016 › Le Prisme, centre de développement artistique de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, Élancourt (Fr) Nov. 9th and 10th, 2016 › Théâtre Théo Argence, Saint-Priest (Fr) Nov. 17th, 2016 › Le Rayon Vert, Saint-Valéry-en-Caux (Fr) Feb. 10th and 11th , 2017 › Theater festival of Barcelona, Barcelone (Spain) LICHEN-MAN October 2011 › Created at La Ferme du Buisson, Scène Nationale de Marne-la-Vallée, For “Temps d’Images” Festival (Fr) March 14th, 2016 › Sněz tu žábu Festival - French Institute in Prague (Czech Republic) April 11th and 12th, 2015 › PULP Festival - La Ferme du Buisson, Scène Nationale de Marne-la-Vallée (Fr) July 1st and 2nd, 2016 › Frinje Festival de Artes Escénicas, Madrid (Spain) THE SHAGGS October 13th, 2012 › La Ferme du Buisson, scène nationale de Marne-la-Vallée, for “Nuit curieuse” in “ Temps d’Images” Festival (Fr) July 15th to 21st, 2013 › La Parenthèse, Avignon OFF Fringe Festival (Fr) November 6th to 8th, 2014 › Le Forum, Scène conventionnée de Blanc-Mesnil (Fr) November 27rh and 28th, 2014 › Théâtre de Sartrouville et des Yvelines - CDN (Fr) December 4th, 2014 › L’Amphithéâtre de Pont-de-Claix (Fr) December 10th to 12th, 2014 › Théâtre des Bains Douches, Le Havre (Fr) December 18th, 2014 › La Closerie, Montreuil-Bellay (Fr) January 23th, 2015 › Centre André Malraux, Hazebrouck (Fr) Febuary 17th to 21st, 201 › Théâtre Paris Villette, Paris (Fr) April 4th, 2017 › Le Grand Bleu – Performing arts for new generations “Youth is great Festival”, Lille (Fr) The Shaggs © Gaelic.fr BEAUTIFUL LOSERS (LICHEN MAN & THE SHAGGS) Beautiful losers is a two-part performance, suitable for audiences of 13 years and above. Lichen-Man (55 mins) and The Shaggs (50 mins) can be shown either separately, one after the other on the same evening (with a break of 15 mins), or on alternate evenings. The superhero and the rock band: two modern myths reinterpreted as borderline heroes, magnificent wasters. Beautiful losers questions these two key forms of popular culture, and reinvents their magic. Suitable for audiences aged 13 and above. The play is performed in French with subtitles. NOTE FROM THE DIRECTOR Each of these performances examines a modern myth: - the superhero (Lichen-Man) - the rock band (The Shaggs) These two myths may be different, but they have a lot in common: - they are both anglo-american, - they are part of popular culture, - they emerged after the war, and their heyday was in the fifties and sixties, - they became emblems of pop culture, - they spread out into all artistic fields and disciplines (cinema, literature, plastic arts, fashion, advertising); - they became “icons”, structural images of our contemporary imagination. Beautiful losers examines the patterns of these two myths, as well as the way they affect our imagination, by tracing their path and their development. We observe the birth of a superhero, and the creation of a rock band; we watch them evolve. But the heroes of these two performances are a little bit different; they don’t follow the rules. They are not what you would expect from a superhero or a rock band. First of all, they don’t really want to be superheroes or rockstars at all - they don’t fit the model that people try to impose on them. They propose a critique of the two myths, one which challenges them whilst at the same time proposing their re-enchantment. By studying and analysing these two myths, the two performances invite us to reflect on the resulting archetypes: the archetype of the ideal man (employee of the month, perfect lover, protective father, etc.) and the archetype of the star (celebrity, commer- cialisation of the body, narcissism, etc.). They form a critique of society’s penchant to reproduce these archetypes. Based on this critical approach, they offer a new interpretation of these types in the form of anti-heroes, who reinvent the rules in their own way. Questioning the norm is at the heart of both performances. Paul Folvorino, the hero of Lichen-Man, or Dot, Betty and Helen, the three sisters who form the Shaggs, want nothing but a normal life. Going against a society which wants to force them to be extraordinary, to become superheros or rockstars, they try to escape what has gradually become the norm, a new conformism: becoming a star, or becoming the ideal man. They reverse this process: by refusing to become these supposedly extraordinary beings, by wanting to be ordinary, they evade this spectacular anti-conformism, which in reality is nothing more than vain and sterile conformism. They create their own paths and end up being truly original, truly extraordinary. This consumer society, where everything is a show, pushes everyone to become a certain kind of person – to separate one’s self from the masses, to succeed – producing standardised and regulated behaviours. But the Shaggs and Lichen-Man – by wanting to be like everyone else, by accepting who they are, by not trying to distinguish themselves at any cost or to succeed, by simply doing things their own way, beyond any calculation, beyond any posturing – end up being in a league of their own. Frédéric Sonntag, mars 2015 The Shaggs © Gaelic.fr Lichen-Man © Gaelic.fr LICHEN-MAN Based on Prestige de l’uniforme de Loo Hui Phang et Hugues Micol Adapted and directed by Frédéric Sonntag Cast Antoine Herniotte, Lisa Sans, Jérémie Sonntag, Paul Levis, Arnaud Delannoy Original drawings, scale models and video design Thomas Rathier Music Paul Levis Lighting design Manuel Desfeux Costume design Alice Duchange Stage Manager and Head of Sound Bertrand Faure Head of Lighting Maëlle Payonne Head of Video Thomas Rathier Set design Sardine & Whisky Production Management Emilie Henin (Bureau Formart) For all age groups 13 and above Duration of the show 55 minutes Production AsaNIsiMAsa Company (2011) Co-production La Ferme du Buisson - Scène Nationale Marne-la-Vallée (First created in October 2011, for “Temps d’Images” Fes- tival – Arte, re-created in 2015 for “PULP Festival”) • With the participation of DICRéAM. AsaNIsiMAsa Company is subsidised by DRAC Île-de-France PRESENTATION Paul Forvolino is a mediocre researcher, specialised in lichen studies. He is insecure and his daily life is eating him up inside. But everything radically changes, as an incident occurs in his laboratory and grants him with super powers. He will be able to expe- rience the ideal of life he’s always dreamed of, at last. But at what cost? Based on the Prestige de l’Uniforme, a comic book by Hugues Micol and Loo Hui Phang, published in 2005, Lichen-Man goes over superhero mythologies with a fine-toothed comb, grasping its stakes and impact. On stage, projected drawings, filmed models, live music and live storytelling play around comics and fantasy films’ codes, while inviting the audience to recover their own ima- ginary view on this popular figure. Set in a crepuscular city, where competition and performance prevail, Paul Forvolino is a reluctant hero, who has the ability to save the world. But who will be saving him? ADAPTATION & THEMES Loo Hui Phang and Hugues Micol’s comic make the superhero mythologies their own: the norm issue, the hero figure, the responsi- bility that comes with gaining powers and thus, power itself, the feeling of not fitting in, the relationship between an individual and the community, self-denial...In that sense, they pay a proper tribute to comic classics (especially to Spiderman and Xmen). Our adaptation of Loo Hui Pang’s script redefines the narrative, gets rid of secondary plots, in order to focus on Paul Forvolino’s journey, a mediocre man who will go from anti-hero to superhero, without ever experiencing the “normality” stage, which he is aspiring to. In fact, Paul Forvolino will soon realise that his superhero status, his perfect, brilliant, ambitious, perfect lover-persona is at the exact opposite of who he used to be, making him a monster. A superhero like a metaphor of the model perfection our society seems to expect and acclaim, which actually tends to be monstrous. Drawing a parallel between perfection and monstrosity: isn’t Paul Forvolino’s dreamed life, that he finally ends up getting with his superpowers, a certain form of atrocity? This is one of the interpretation trails we chose to follow and adapt. Because Paul Forvolino’s transformation is as much as into a superhero as it is into a monster (physically but also morally). He in fact never stopped being the antihero he originally was. He finds himself forced to accomplish his superhero fate against his will. Not only his position isn’t exactly admirable, it takes away his right to happiness and makes him an outcast. Even though the story follows the classic steps of the “superhero journey” and meets the genre expectations, it is still tinted with melancholy, a genuine darkness and offers a gloomy perspective on social standards. The dialectic between weaknesses and forces is another key theme we chose to take on. Lichen is a composite organism from algae and fungus, which uses its two components’ weaknesses to thrive and create an incredibly more resistant organism. Likewise, Paul Forvolino’s superpowers feed on his weaknesses. They are the own nourishing the lichen and awarding him with superpowers. From his transformation on, his antihero characteristics -cowardice, fear, guilt- will be the driving forces of his powers: a highly interesting duality.