If you come to Philippe Quesne/Vivarium Studio’s performance of L’Effet de Serge this Thursday through Saturday, you will see: local volunteer actors sitting onstage trying their best to be a convincing micro-audience for the larger, McGuire audience; Quesne’s partner/lead actor Gaëtan Vourc’h in the role of himself and also the eponymous Serge; and an onstage car (highly animated for an inanimate object). A video here show’s the difficulties a crew faced in bringing said car onstage for a run in Sao Paulo. If you visit the Performing Arts Vimeo, you’ll see we had an opposite experience.
If you come Thursday-Saturday, you’ll see a sparkling, remote-controlled car circle one of these volunteer actors sitting in a chair (see 0:48-0:52 in the trailer below). L’Effet de Serge features Serge’s menagerie of one-three minute performances for his onstage audience (and the larger audience across the proscenium), miniature tableaus that range from tender to the absurd, and through the improvised community onstage Philippe Quesne/Vivarium Studio hope to convey “the simple joy of being together.” The swansong for this year’s Out There Festival will be as understated and gentle as Betontanc/Umka.LV’s Show Your Face! was a violent force to be reckoned with.
Tickets still available.
New York Times review here.
Vivarium Studio will be leading a workshop Saturday and all are welcome.