Making people laugh can be learned! That’s good, Frédéric Biessy, director of La Scala, opens today, in the city center of Avignon, the doors of ESAR to 47 students, coming from the South region (only six), but above all from all over the world. France, Belgium and Switzerland. They are between 18 and 38 years old, with stage experience or none at all. At the rate of 30 hours per week (theater, bodily expression, media and debates…), they will wipe the plaster of this new national structure, supervised by six teachers, including Michel Henry, former sharp pen of the newspaper “Libération” .
Geneviève “We definitely don’t want to be a stand-up academy, it’s real training over two years (the second year at La Scala Paris), with theater, body expression, Master classes every month, for example on production mechanisms.”
Around a hundred people applied initially. A few months ago, Jérémy Ferrari, the artistic director of the school, made them work for two days, to test the motivation of each person, and the interaction within a collective, too.
Cost of the year: €9,200 But a significant portion of students receive various aid, notably from AFDAS (skills operator for the cultural sectors), in order to finance the expensive registration. Jérémy Ferrari, currently in Morocco where he is shooting his film, sent a video to these students. “We provide you with tools, but it’s up to you to use them as best as possible. Don’t forget that everything depends on your personal analysis. You have to nourish yourself and make the most of it.” The same Ferrari, which once debuted, in front of a few spectators, in a small theater of the Avignon Off Festival, the Observance, will host, at the end of this school year, a two-day Master class. Furthermore, next spring, these “ESARIENS” (inconclusive neologism) will be included in the La Scala Provence laughter festival. We can also assume that next July, they will be part of the Off, within this same parent company. Alea Scala is.
Geneviève Meley-Othoniel, general director of the Ecole Supérieure des Arts du Rire
“A hundred people applied initially, 47 (two thirds of whom were men) were selected (18-38 years old), from very diverse backgrounds, and coming from all over France, Belgium and Switzerland. For some , we have assessed a potential, and are aware of it. They know that there is work to be done. For others, it is already more mature and they have already experienced a little more in the profession. break out of their habits and take them where they don’t necessarily go. Those who have been selected have a capacity for flexibility to adapt.
Fredéric Biessy, director of La Scala Provence, which hosts ESAR (a school he initiated with his wife Mélanie)
“As soon as we began to imagine this school of laughter, we thought of a structure which forms in a complete way, and which above all does not create comedy-club fodder. That does not interest us. At La Scala, these Students will have very different courses, ranging from media to bodily expression. But they will also be able to take advantage of everything that happens in this house, meet the artists who perform there, attend residency outings, and perform. on stage during our laughter festival next spring, they will also be ushers at La Scala on show evenings. These students will bring life to this theater all year round.
Jérémy Ferrari, artistic director of this new Avignon school
“At the start, Fred (Frédéric Biessy) told me: ‘I want to set up a humor school’. I told him that there were already plenty of them and I added: ‘I want to participate in such a project if it resembles the school that I would have liked to meet on my journey when I was 18 years old. If it is not the school of my dreams, I did not see the point. This is where Fred said to me: ‘What exactly is the school of your dreams, let’s do it’. , it was 30 hours of lessons per week, where we work on writing, improvisation, theater, sport, debates, with support in access to the professional world. take talents, supervise them, so that they don’t get fooled, so that they fill their weaknesses and improve in what they already have talent in.”
They are students in this first class of ESAR
Capucine, 31 years old, Rennes
“My sister told me: ‘go ahead, apply to this school, you’re funny!’ I told him that it’s not the same thing to be funny in life and on stage. I never went on a real stage when I was younger, in front of uncles and aunts, I played with my cousins. but nothing more.
I devoted 17 years of my life to rugby and I did quite a few jobs, including being a roofer. I got injured playing rugby and school came at the right time. Jérémy’s (Ferrari) kindness and high standards allowed me to know that I was investing in a good school.”
Julien 26 years old, Bagnols-sur-Cèze
“I always wanted to be a comedian. I already went to a humor school in Paris and then I went into music. I needed to get back into the swing of things. Here, to have nearly 50 friends who follow the same training is a plus. Previously, I played in “Comedy clubs” in Montpellier But I want to go further And then we, the students, can also propose. at Avignon theaters evenings
“Comedy club.” We must move forward and find solutions. In the 30 hours of lessons per week, we notably have “theoretical debate”. It surprised me.”
Aitor, 35 years old, Basque country
“I have been an actor, an intermittent performer for ten years now. I am a clown, I have also done stand-up. By coming to this school of laughter, I hope to progress in writing and improvisation, be more diligent in these areas, improve quality in general And then until now, I clearly lacked networks in the profession, to know who, for example, to contact, in relation to projects. That’s it, we’re ready to go!”
Florine, 31 years old, North
“I saw Jérémy Ferrari’s video on social networks about the creation of this School of Laughter in Avignon. And there, I was in the state of mind: ‘Why not? We’ll see what that’s like given.’ But quite honestly, I didn’t expect to get this far in the auditions.
Initially, I was a cabinetmaker, it was a professional change. I have no experience in the field of humor, I have no knowledge, I’m going to discover all that. I have everything to learn and yes, we can say that it’s a total leap into the void.”
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