What can you do with nothing? “Quite a lot!” say Pierre Cluzaud, David Cluzaud, Lenaïg Fannière of French circus act Compagnie 3xRein, adding that the name of their company itself comes from a French expression that means ‘almost nothing’. The trio are in the city for a 45-minute, no-holds-barred, decidedly, out- of-the-box modern circus performance, “created out of nothing” and titled, Une rencontre, 2 parallèles .
“Modern circus is a performance style that originated in France, in which a story or a theme is conveyed through traditional circus acts [think Cirque du Soleil]. It’s a trend that’s popular in France, where there are many famous circus troupes, and it is gaining ground as a performance medium in other parts of the world. It is very different from traditional circus – it can be a theatre show, a storytelling session…all interwoven with acting, music, comedy, theatrics, acrobatics and what not. The circus acts are integral to the show, thus making it a complete entertainer for the young and the old alike,” explain the trio.
For example, their show Une rencontre, 2 parallèles , which won the ‘Coup de Pouce’, the audience award, at the festival of Grand Bornand in 2008, is set in a playground, with big black and white boxes as the main props.
The three characters arrive on stage one after the other and through a series of visual paintings, the artistes move in this geometrically variable space, mixing acrobatics and props, unfolding the story. “Our performance is not really inspired by tales or myths but it has a definite plot. We create a poetic universe. Of course, music helps us to find our way, and sometimes we find music because of what we do on stage,” they explain.
The performance is highly technical as well as filled with humour, which they say is not an easy task.
“Our work is based on the fact that we don’t want viewers to think that technical acts are difficult. We aim to get them thinking that it’s easy!” Also, the box props are very important for the show. “In fact, they are the base of the show. Each artiste performs with it and creates the story around it. However, we try to retain their inanimate nature,” explain the trio.
The three artistes have been performing together since 2004, when they set up Compagnie 3xRein. While Pierre and David are brothers, Lenaïg is Pierre’s girlfriend and the other two members of the troupe – technicians David Brochard and Pierre-Emmanuel Usureau – are their friends from college.
The three are self-taught, “inspired by different schools of circus recreation”. For the past three years they have been training with veteran performances such as Remy Balagué and Manuel Buttner for the hand-to-hand tricks and Cai Sun Xia and Claude Victoria for balance, “to improve the technical techniques. We are now embarking on a new era of research and technical scenography, creating the raw material for the show,” they say.
Une rencontre, 2 parallèles, organised by Alliance Francaise de Trivandrum, is on October 31 at University Senate Hall at 7 p.m.
