Le Fil à la Patte

Today we worked on a scene for ‘the bad students’ from Le Fil à la Patte. It involves a butler and a woman, who is the sister of the butler’s boss. The Butler’s boss is currently having sex with her partner in another room. The sister (not the boss) wants a sandwich, but the butler won’t get her one until the boss gives the ‘okay’. Sounds complex. But in a nut shell, the woman wants a sandwich. The butler won’t get her one.

To play the butler you must have a deep deep voice, like a concierge or a funeral director. And the woman must bring life and fun through her tactics to get a sandwich. 

Nobody got the scene going today. It needs the woman to be fast, long and big, and the butler to be slow, small, and short...but none of the girls went fast or long or big enough. So it all stayed on the same level...

I tried out a new costume today - just for fun. I wore a black wig, black moustache, I coloured in my eyebrows black and wore a white shirt with black waistcoat. This basically the costume I’m playing around with for a future street theatre idea I have to do in Paris.

I also tried wearing a long fake nose - even though I know it looks fake at the moment and would need a bit of work to look seamless on my face. Philippe said it looks like my character has worn it to be funny. And that soon he will take out a fake plastic poo and make a joke with it. My intention was to transform with it. To look different from myself. But I see what he means. It’s not worth wearing unless I make it look real. 

“It has to be well disguised...otherwise we think it’s your character trying to be funny.”

He also said my black moustache is better. It’s more visible. So I’ll go in that direction for a wee bit!  

~

I didn’t get up today until right at the end - because Philippe said the class was for ‘bad students’ (those who haven’t found a good character/rhythm yet), and also because I was a bit chicken and afraid of being bad. When I did get up it was to help Philippe work on Christine by speaking with a fast rhythm. He was working on her and trying to eliminate her ‘negative energy’. 


“We don’t like you because we are happy and ready...but you say nyah nyah nyah.”

“You say ‘no’ to the game when you say the words and when you move. You say ‘no I don’t want to play.'”