Paris, a wet November
bank holiday Monday morning. On the outskirts of the city, Universite Paris Nanterre
is deserted. This is a far cry from fifty years ago, when the 1960s-built
campus once nicknamed Mad Nanterre helped ignite the student revolt that sired the
seismic events of May 1968, when a revolutionary circus took to the streets.
Today, however, other
than the seven Edinburgh-based street theatre makers walking purposefully down
the boulevard, there’s not a soul in sight. They take their bank holidays
seriously in France. Look a little harder, however, and as the performers from the
tellingly named PyroCeltica and Circus Alba companies are about to discover,
circus is an even more serious proposition.
This is something the
compound of big top tents just off the main drag inside Les arenes des Nanterre,
home of Les Noctambules circus school, makes arrestingly clear. In one of the
big tops, a trapeze and ropes hang down from on high like some makeshift gym.
Next to the bar in the corner, a unicycle hangs from a poster covered wall
above two upright pianos standing back to back. One of the pianos is covered by
a dust-sheet, as if asleep in its cage. An archaic heating system growls
intermittently, as if a monster living below has just had their winter hibernation
disturbed.
Today, however, this is
the work-space for PyroCeltica and Circus Alba to learn what is required when
they collaborate with Paris-based street-spectacle auteurs, Compagnie Remue
Ménage – it translates as hullabaloo or ruckus - at Edinburgh’s Hogmanay’s
Street Party.
With support from the
Scottish Government and City of Edinburgh Council’s PLACE fund, the three
companies will perform a new version of piece called Amorous Ballad. Already
part of Remue Ménage’s repertoire, this illuminated street parade fuses giant
puppets, acrobats and choreography as two lovers in illuminated head-dresses
tango their way between the National Gallery of Scotland, The Mound and Parliament
Square.
In Paris, the performers
from Scotland are put through their paces by Remue Ménage’s choreographer, Veronica
Endo.
“We very much like
working with companies from other countries,” says Endo, whose previous
experience of Edinburgh includes choreographing Gilbert Deflo’s production of
Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, with Jordi Savall conducting, at the 2007 Edinburgh
International Festival. “It’s interesting to bring the Scottish artists to our
studio, and to learn about them as much as they learn about what we do.”
A similar exchange, also
supported by the PLACE Fund, was instigated in Germany a couple of weeks later,
where Edinburgh-based Beltane veterans Harbinger Drum Crew hooked up with the
light-based Dundu company. Such
international exchanges show off what current political events in the UK might
make difficult, and it’s no accident that this year’s Edinburgh’s Hogmanay is
accompanied by the slogan, Be Together.
While European street
theatre companies visiting Edinburgh is nothing new, watching Catriona Smith,
Kirstie Duncan and Colin Morton from PyroCeltica swing their way through things
to a soundtrack of Remue Ménage composer Erwan Loeffel’s rhythm-driven fiddle
music is a treat. As is watching the Circus Alba team of Callum Donald, Laura
Harrison, William Thorburn and Adam Romaine pad about in hi-tech looking stilts
under the guidance of Remue Ménage’s Florentine Chartier.
Members of both
companies are part of a busy and tight-knit under-the-radar Edinburgh circus
and street theatre scene. Year-round support for the artform in Scotland is
minimal, however, and companies and venues have come and gone. A lack of civic
knowledge of circus at local and national level often leaves companies like
PyroCeltica and Circus Alba poor relations in terms of funding and long-term
infrastructure.
Despite this, PyroCeltica
have been running ten years, having formed from from the ashes of Te Pooka, who
were based in Big Red Door, a space in Tollcross they called home until rent
increases forced them out. PyroCeltica formalised as a company after ex members
of Te Pooka took part in Edinburgh’s Hogmanay’s Torchlight Parade. The Big Red
Door space is now a restaurant.
Circus Alba too have
survived for more than a decade. This is despite a lack of training
opportunities for circus skills in Scotland. While fiercely self-determined, if
company members really want to learn their stuff, they have to go to Rotterdam.
Or Paris. Having similar resources to Remue Ménage would be a dream for
PyroCeltica and Circus Alba, but in the current climate is unlikely. Again, any
further international collaborations look set set to be complicated by Brexit.
Later, the performers
move to the old warehouse space that makes up Remue Ménage’s HQ in Vray, an
area just outside Paris, next to the thirteenth arrondissement, where the
city’s Chinatown district is situated. Inside, an ornate 19th century carriage
sits on one side of the room. A row of three wind-up gramophones are perched
aloft, with a costume rail draped with vintage apparel in front. On the corner
are stacked a fierce looking pile of fibreglass polar bear heads. Despite the
clutter, Endo works out another routine with the entire Scottish/French
alliance, augmented by Remue Ménage performers Angelique Verger and Maxim
Campistron.
“It’s a huge challenge,”
says Endo. “Everyone has to learn this very fast.”
All three companies will
reconvene for intensive rehearsals in Edinburgh next week.
“It would be great if
all of us could have a common feeling as part of one big team,” says Endo. “There
may be three different companies doing this, but if we concentrate and work
hard, we can all melt into one.”
Amorous Ballad is performed
by Remue Ménage with Circus Alba and PyroCeltica as part of Edinburgh’s
Hogmanay’s Street Party on December 31.
The Herald, December 21st 2019
ends
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