14 April, 19.00, 20.30 on stage of Novgorod Drama theatre
PROJECT “FRENCH FOCUS”
With support of Institut fran?ais
and Sc?nes d’enfance — ASSITEJ France
THEATRE AIEAIEAIE, Rennes, France
“MA BICHE ET MON LAPIN”
A short show on a table top, with music but no dialogue, where couples get together
and couples break up in a ballet of manipulated objects. A caustic vaudeville made up of short pastoral stories, playful and tragic, knitted with four hands in a mixed single.
Performers — Charlotte Blin, Julien Mellano
Production — COLLECTIF AIEAIEAIE
Recommended age – 16+
Duration – 30 min.
Press:
BROADWAY BABY by Alexis Macnab
« […] An excellent and affecting piece of object-theatre […] performed with expert timing and a profound
understanding of character, narrative and humor. Delightful and captivating, funny and poignant, the smallscale
adventurers of these tiny heroes richly suggest the full-sized adventure of our own lives.»
«THE EDINBURGH FESTIVAL FRINGE»
THE SCOTSMAN * * * * by Mark Fisher — Scotsman.com
« In this short and sweet two-hander, performed on a table top for a tiny audience as if by special request,
puppeteers Charlotte Blin and Julien Mellano tell a tale of sex and romance using the kind of objects we
associate with kitsch living-room decoration. The biche and lapin (doe and rabbit) of the title could be the
pottery figurines that take pride of place on your grandmother’s mantelpiece. Your grandmother, however,
is unlikely to have imagined them getting off with each other or seductively sharing the dish of p?t?
contained in their hollow insides. Neither is she likely to have wired them for sound (the music is one of the
show’s strong points), and even in her most depraved moments, she will not have seen an image of sexual
congress in a napkin penetrating a napkin ring, or a lusty bottle of spirits emptying itself into a virgin glass.
Oddly, none of this strikes one as rude or salacious. It’s as innocent as the doilies that fall as snow across
the miniature landscape, blanketing the cottage where two neighbours are busy making the bed squeak.
For all the innuendo, this is an essentially romantic vision, a view of sexual attraction that is simple, mutual
and conflict-free. At just 30 minutes long, this wordless show is not going to change your life, but it’s
the kind of quirky discovery that makes the Fringe special. »
TOTAL THEATRE REVIEW by Edward Wren — Total Theatre Review
« It all begins with a porcelain deer and a porcelain rabbit. From the rabbit comes some p?t?, the deer
produces some bread, and the two puppeteers eat together. This playful piece then unfolds with more and
more surprises as the skilled operators, Charlotte Blin and Julien Mellano, tell a series of short stories
about couples and courting.
All performed without a word on a table top, with objects to represent the various characters, Collectif A?e
A?e A?e’s delicate little show is filled with invention and many small wonders.
The objects they use to represent the characters are very basic and not puppeteered as objects brought to
life. It is more that they represent the character, and the operators help fill in the gaps by inhabiting
elements of the character themselves. Now for die hard puppeteers like myself this sounds like the greatest
sin to commit when operating a puppet, but there is something about Blin and Mellano’s devoted
performance that makes it work brilliantly. So much so that I didn’t think at all about technique – I was
utterly engrossed in the characters and eager to follow their stories.
In once scene we see a randy napkin and a saucy napkin holder take up residence next to a small whiskey
bottle and shot glass while two flashing disco balls party late into the night – and it’s not an unusual
scenario in a piece so full of invention that it borders at times on the surreal. There are little speakers
hidden in some of the objects that provide table top sound, and the company have even worked in a small
pyrotechnic.
Such is the affection that they give the objects that when the shot glass dies and is filled with milk from a
skull shaped glass it becomes quite moving. It is a show about affection, told with affection by two
very skilled performer puppeteers. At only thirty minutes long I was reluctant to leave their playful and
strange little world. I would certainly recommend keeping an eye out for Collectif A?e A?e A?e in the future; it
was an utter delight to share some time with them. »
