“We Have To Give A Good Fun, Good Fun, Good Fun!”

Today Ben presented a number of his South African Apartheid speech which he had directed. This time it was said by a gang of Bouffons (transvestites, prostitutes, tramps) who shared the lines of the speech, and at times sang to African drumming. I liked it but Philippe said “it looks sad...we think they’re sincere...I don’t think they mock the text.”

Philippe played party music and got them to do to the text as if at a festival in Rio de Janeiro. He had André in the front of the group saying the text whilst imitating Adolf Hitler. They were all dancing and singing, and André was great swinging his straight arms and legs all over the place to the music.

“We have to give a good fun, good fun, good fun!”

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Thomas and Mia presented a newer version of their ball scene between the right-wing fascist politicians of France and Austria. This time with three different gifts to each other, a Muslim, a Gypsy, and a Jew - each for them to murder. But it was heavy and there was no humour in it. “It’s militant...it’s not Bouffon.” 

Philippe then got Charles and Mark, two tramps, to dance together as if at the ball, whilst Mia and Thomas stayed up stage with their heads above the wings speaking to each other. The image was simpler this way. Later he got Mia and Thomas to walk slowly to each other and go for a ‘Hollywood Kiss’. They could have a good scene like this, with the tramps dancing, and a flirty conversation between each other on the phone from either side of the stage. Philippe also advised them not to use the names of the politicians because it becomes too specific. Whereas if they use more generic names like “my French friend” then the piece can attack many more bastards.

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Sam presented a number with her AIDS Bouffon around the idea of “I am positive”, but it was heavy, serious, and angry. So Philippe didn’t accept it.

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Lee presented the ‘Dickheads’ text as his transvestite but he didn’t ever connect with the audience like he has in the past improvising. He tried it just with himself, and then he tried it with Steph pushing the trolley around, putting Lee in the shit. But Philippe killed Lee for being inconsistent saying “with what you are doing we can’t be confident...we say ‘Ah with Lee we never know...so it’s impossible.”

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I then presented some text I had written earlier in the day for a number in which I would come out dressed as a middle-ages Bouffon and mock the pope with ridiculous latin gibberish.

“Tyrani-saurus rexa, pterodactyl, velici-raptor, Jurassic Park-us, such a good movie.”

I hadn’t learnt it yet, or put together the staging, but I figured it was worth testing to see if the text works before spending lots of time putting it together. For the most part it did work, although towards the end of my text I start to suggest the Pope is a pedophile and use sexual innuendo and the audience quietened here. People said it became obvious. So perhaps just making the Pope look ridiculous is enough. And perhaps with images on stage, such as various Bouffons having sex in crazy positions, the sexual ‘fuck you for taking advantage of choir boys’ message could come through. So I learnt that it could work. Philippe said “it’s possible” and suggested that it could be the opening of the show - with mysterious lighting and the reveal of the Bouffon world.

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Finally all the people that knew the ‘I must be sick’  text (me included) got up and tried to do it to Mexican music. Every one was bad! Steph blamed the music. So we tried with various other styles, including Elvis, but it was bad every time.