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By BEN BRANTLEYPublished: December 7, 2007
The supple team of enchanters who inhabit Au Revoir
Parapluie,James Thirres loving performance piece about the circus
that is the
human family, never reaches the end of its rope. In this artful
andaffecting hybrid of dance, slapstick, music and acrobatics,
which runsthrough Dec. 16 at the Harvey Theater of the Brooklyn
Academy ofMusic, rope is an endlessly mutable medium, as fluid and
surprisingas life itself.
Suspended from the ceiling, coiled on the floor and stretched
throughthe air, a gargantuan tangle of ropes becomes an
impenetrable wall,a labyrinthine forest, a people-eating monster, a
musical instrument ,a sanctuary of a bed and a tightrope on which a
couple struggles toachieve equilibrium. And thats just for
starters. Knot-tying EagleScouts and lariat-twirling cowboys have
nothing on these tricksters.
Au Revoir Parapluie is no mere display of arts-and-crafts
ingenuity.As directed and performed by Mr. Thirre, one of a cast of
five, thisfinal presentation of the 25th Next Wave Festival becomes
a stirringand entertaining ode to the difficulties of holding on to
what andwhom you love most.
Inspired by the myth of the wife-losing Orpheus, Au
RevoirParapluie conjures a tragicomic universe that thwarts, mocks
and
dissolves human pretensions, ambitions and illusions of
permanence.The title, which translates as Farewell, Umbrella, is a
nod to thefutility of seeking shelter from lifes storms.
This worldview, and the artistic tools used to capture it, might
be saidto be Mr. Thirres birthright. His grandfather was Charlie
Chaplin,whose beleaguered Little Tramp of silent film immortally
summonedthe pathos in slapstick. His parents, Victoria Chaplin and
Jean-BaptisteThirre, created Le Cirque Imaginaire, a frills-free
dreamscape of acircus.
Mr. Thirre, whose Junebug Symphony was seen in New York
fiveyears ago, draws freely from the styles of his parents
andgrandfather. (His face is a fair facsimile of Chaplins without
thetrademark mustache.) But the end product here is very much his
own,a narrative poem of happiness and frustration shaped by
ballet,pratfalls and a magicians legerdemain writ large.The
international ensemble of Au Revoir Parapluie embodiestimeless
commedia dellarte types translated into contemporarydomestic terms.
Mr. Thirre would appear to be a devoted butdistractible father; the
lithe and long-haired Satchie Noro, playing hisadored, elusive
wife; the amazingly pliable Kaori Ito, their elfin child.
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They exist in a mnage in which the serenity of comforting
routine isforever under siege, in part from forces incarnated by a
blunderingrepair man (Magnus Jakobsson) and a hypnotic, rather
sinister singer(Maria Sendow). (Thats my reading of the
mise-en-scne, anyway;you may interpret it differently.)
The show is steeped in a classically Gallic whimsy, the knowing
air ofinnocence associated with Marcel Marceaus mime
andJacquesDemys movies, that non-Francophiles are often allergic
to. Some ofthe individual exercises in comic shtick feel more
precious than funny.
But the disparate elements here merge into a universal family
portraitwith an irresistible emotional pull. Mr. Thirre is equally
adept atevoking the purring contentment of a clan in sync with
itself (theres agorgeous sequence in which parents and child
undulate in asymphony of separate, rhythmically connected dances)
and theinescapable awareness that such stability is at best
temporary.
Families, after all, are made up of individuals who will insist
onpursuing their own sometimes dangerous paths. The fear
ofseparation looms large in Au Revoir Parapluie.
Mr. Thirres character believes he has lost his daughter, only
todiscover she is on his back; he swirls into a waltz with what he
thinksis his wife, then realizes she is not with him. An idyllic
trip to theseashore is booby-trapped with blades of grass that turn
into
weapons and a giant predatory fish. Such images have the
resonanceof fragments from nightmares. (The next morning, I found I
had twicewritten in my notes, I DREAMED THIS.)
Giant fishhooks figure memorably in this production, as do
arainstorm of badminton birdies and what has to be the most
fabulouscostume of the year: a spinning white hat and matching
Victoriandress with an animated train worn by Ms. Sendow.
But its those protean ropes that continue to amaze.
Variouslytethering, confining, consuming and transporting the
people onstage,
they are sources of security, terror and liberation for the
family of AuRevoir Parapluie. Mr. Thirre and company balance
exquisitely onthe thread that runs between the potential fear and
exhilarationwithin everyday life.
AU REVOIR PARAPLUIEWritten and directed by James Thirre;
costumes by Victoria Thirreand Manon Gignoux; lighting by Jrme
Sabre; sound by ThomasDelot; production designer, Mr. Thirre; stage
managers, Marc Mouraand Guillaume Pissembon; assistant director,
Sidonie Pigeon;company manager, Emmanuelle Taccard. Presented by
the 2007 NextWave Festival, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Alan H.
Fishman,chairman; Karen Brooks Hopkins, president; Joseph V.
Melillo,
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executive producer. At the Harvey Theater, 651 Fulton Street,
FortGreene, Brooklyn, (718) 636-4100. Through Dec. 16. Running
time: 1hour 40 minutes.WITH: Kaori Ito, Magnus Jakobsson, Satchie
Noro, Maria Sendow andJames Thirre
