– How a duo of mechanical robots humanize themselves by emancipating themselves
Without a single word, the “Actapalabra” by Joan Mompart, Philippe Gouin and François-Xavier Thien launches the little ones into orbit into a revolutionary and Beckettian universe.
Published today at 10:10 a.m.
Joan Mompart and Philippe Gouin have been “theater brothers” since the dawn of the 2000s, when Omar Porras temporarily enlisted them in his Teatro Malandro.
ARIANE CATTON
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We would like to go back to childhood, during the session. In any case, to see the joyful participation of the 4 years and over who attend the creation of“Actapalabra”we would happily rediscover the uninhibited spontaneity that inhabits them for fifty minutes, while no voice other than theirs resonates in the room. Yes, because on the planet of the solar system currently home to the Théâtre Am Stram Gramonly the act takes the place of words: its inhabitants have lost their language.
The robotic clowns of “Actapalabra” will have to dig under multiple layers of Martian green before touching their buried humanity.
ARIANE CATTON
Joan Mompart and Philippe Gouin, the designers of the project, have also been reduced to a form of silence. The two actors and directors dreamed of putting together the mimodrama “Acte sans mots” by Samuel Beckett (1957), but they were refused the rights. No matter, the pair immediately bounced back with a somersault of their own, creating a waltz which has the zany flavor of the Irish playwright, the metaphysical drollery, but not the forbidden letter.
In the astrophysics of “Actapalabra”, the great machinist of the cosmos can tempt you with the help of an edible planet.
ARIANE CATTON
There are three of them to populate the rotating disk installed on the set of Am Stram Gram, Joan Mompart’s stronghold since 2021: two Martians and a deus ex machina. The first repeat the mechanical gestures which accompany the gravitation of the spheres, the second sows pitfalls along their route. In the form of temptations, for example, when the chief machinist tempts them with a fruit coming down from the hangers, the string of which he shortens or lengthens each time a robot tries to catch it. “Take the biggest one!” scream the kids when one of the clowns climbs one of the four available ladders. “It’s too dangerous!” will they do it again when the charlots improvise a scaffolding using stepladders.
By freeing themselves from the physical laws that oppress them, Philippe Gouin and Joan Mompart experience angry jubilation.
ARIANE CATTON
The fable nonetheless follows its trajectory. In a display of lighting effects, musical winks and smoke-filled pyrotechnics, the zigotos will gradually become aware of being turned into fools. If not talking, couldn’t they at least touch each other? Instead of submitting to the turbine, wouldn’t it be in their interest to unite, to better free themselves from it once and for all? Under automated gesticulation, would they not have a human soul?
Joan Mompart ends up happy in the arms of a human beast.
ARIANE CATTON
It is then that the pair will shed, one after the other, all the layers of green tracksuits that they wear in uniform. Peeling itself until it reveals itself in its animal nudity, all warm and hairy. Then take refuge in the arms of a large creature with red fur, who appeared from behind the scenes while freedom silenced the clicking of the cogs. For the comfort of this final hug, we would be happy to be 6 years old.
Katia Berger has been a journalist in the cultural section since 2012. She covers news in the performing arts, particularly through theater or dance reviews, but also sometimes deals with photography, visual arts or literature.More info
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