“It’s a real challenge to have dogs on set.” Meeting with Tabu, a two and a half year old actor greyhound

In their next show entitled Brady, Limougeauds Jennifer Cabassu and Théo Bluteau, from the company ATLATL, will bring on stage a third actor, or rather an actress, unusual to say the least: their greyhound Tabu.

Half Apollo, half Arnold Schwarzenegger, Brady is the central character of the second show from the company ATLATL. “He is a fictional character, a bodybuilder who is preparing his comeback to competition who we find at the moment when, in his routine, a dog arrives”,explains Jennifer Cabassu, co-author of the play with Théo Bluteau.

We will follow his routine, his comeback to the competition, the post-competition, his entire metamorphosis… through the dog’s eyes.

Jennifer Cabasso,

co-author of the play Brady

To play the role of the canine, the two Limougeauds did not choose just any animal: their dog, Tabu.“We didn’t want to make a dog perform tricks, specific things. We really wanted to portray a relationship between the bodybuilder and the dog. We wanted there to be a real connection, a love… So for us, it was obvious that it was our dog”,argues the actress and director.

This two and a half year old greyhound, however, had no experience in the world of theater. The duo called on Victorine Reinewald, a dog trainer and behaviorist who has already worked in live performance and cinema: “It’s a real challenge to have dogs on set, because of their energy.”

There are lots of things happening at the same time: there are lots of smells, people coughing, reacting, laughing, etc.

Victorine Reinewald,

dog trainer and behaviorist

A particularly delicate context for this young dog, which had to be tamed. “Succeeding in keeping a dog in the attention of the actor or on the score, on what he has to do, that’s what can be very complicated,” confides Victorine Reinewald.

His approach to training is unique: out of the question of making the animal obey your finger and eye, but on the contrary leaving it the choice to do or not to do: “They’re not playing. They’re just there, and life goes on. It’s really the job of humans to grab them and be interesting enough for them to follow them.”

Dressing cannot begin until the decorations have been made. “I really need the dogs to take this space as their number 2 home,” explains Victorine Reinewald. Each day begins with the same ritual: a walk in the forest. Then, the two actors and the behaviorist work together for several hours so that the dog feels as comfortable as possible in the middle of the sets by following her rhythm.

To help her, Tabu is surrounded by two other dogs: Mesa and Olrun, Victorine Reinewald’s dogs. “Sometimes, Tabu got tired of the things that were offered to him. Which is normal, like a child might get tired of a game that he has already played fifteen times”, explains the expert. “Pour to reengage her attention and her desire, we put her aside and I had Mesa and Olrun do exactly the same thing. Seeing this, Tabu wanted it again and came back pumped up!”

To accustom the dog to the presence of the public, two previews will take place on November 4 and 7 at the Théâtre de l’Union in Limoges. The company will then perform at the Mégisserie on November 21 and at the Théâtre du Cloître de Bellac in February 2025.