Pierre and Loulou |
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(inspired by Peter and the Wolf)
Why « Pierre and Loulou » ? In children's albums, an eternal game of hide and seek plays out as each page turns: who will eat who? In the middle of these tales of animal belligerence, the wolf is always king. In "P’tit Jojo, sac au dos" ("Li'l Jack of the backpack"), our first creation for the very young, Jojo had a nightmare. Through the window of his bedroom, he thought he saw "a terrible monster with huge sharp teeth". It was in fact a crocodile but the children watching shouted out "It's a wolf, it's a wolf!" In their voices you could hear the thrill of fear yet at the same time the desire to enter this fear. This experience pushed us to get right up close to the wolf by writing a fantasy made up of encounters, music and images. Prokofiev's music: In "Peter and the Wolf", each protagonist is personified by an instrument, each character has a particular theme that accompanies each of their appearances. We have respected the composer's choice, expanding it for the first part of our "Pierre and Loulou". Prokoviev's music is subtle and evocative. His lyricism creates music that is particularly adapted to storytelling and stirring emotions. We like very young children to hear this stirring, elaborate yet unconstrained music in a playful and exciting setting. The voices: Each character has a voice matched to their personality. They talk to each other in a clear and precise muttering. Their tone, delivery, energy reveal each one's nature and feelings: cunning, provocative, curious, calm, grumpy… The choice of "without words": We made this choice because experience has taught us that children appreciate the reflection and active understanding that this format requires. They can then proudly tell the story in their own way and with their own words. We also believe that the show without words is not reserved exclusively for the very young but appeals to a much larger audience that comprehends that the key to a full understanding can obtained by looking at the pictures, listening to the music, feeling the rhythm, appreciating the acting and gaining an overall feeling from all of these factors combined. The visual universe: If the puppets are inspired by primitive art, Calder's circus "toys" or Christian Voltz's illustrations, the scenery, entirely filmed, pays tribute rather to Russian animated films, Matisse's collages, Henri Rousseau's paintings. The landscapes, coloured and two dimensional, are put together like ikebana, seeking a harmony between linear construction, rhythm and colours. Making use both of the sky and the ground, they are like numerous sets that create depth and provide space for the scenes played out in the puppet theatre below. The puppet cine-theatre: The different background scenes are fixed, with only the occasional panning at the end of sequences expressing Loulou's wanderings and the passage of time. At different moments, characters pass from the screen to the puppet-theatre and vice versa. Above and beyond the veiled reference to Woody Allen's "The Purple Rose of Cairo", this is a fun way to create perspective between the "real" characters and the "filmed" characters. Furthermore, the choice of this hybrid form allows us to reinforce the musical expressiveness via the staging.
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With: Kham-Lhane Phu Coproduction : Les Danglefou, La Mauvaise Herbe, l'Aserc-Centre culturel de La Cale, with the help of la Région Poitou-Charentes.
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