Los Yayos not so old !

For the 2019 Luaga und Losna festival opening, we had the chance to see a Belgium show by the Casquette company, directed by Pierre Richards, created ten years ago and named Los Yayos which means the grandparents. Without surprise, we see a couple of elders making a very loudly entrance to make entering quickly and easily in their universe.

Two old clowns life’s victims

Isabelle Verlaine Defaux and Miguel Camino Fueyo interpret two old dumb clowns in love with some difficulties to still live together. As some old persons, they have some problems to control their movements, making the life together uneasy. For example, the girl can’t barely stand when he makes a little movement. To help us understand his strength, each move goes with an amplified sound. Those moments show a great complicity between them. Their synchronisation is as good as we can clearly identify a subtle choreography executed with grace even if they keep the shifting bounded to their age, in particular when they’re undressing each other, or when they’re fighting to sit on the chair. Their mimes are subtle and precise to reach their goal, making us laugh seeing the time and the life escaping. The children and us are laughing a lot because they really could be everyone’s grandparent with their grumbling, their tenderness and solitude. Even if the life together isn’t easy, they’re bound by the dance, the dance is the source of their story and what they keep them alive, all clowns moments alternate with some dancing moments very touchy. This performance is as much the quotidian of two elders as a tribute to the dance and his capacity to bring people together. The strength of their performance is that they can mix clown and dance moment without exaggerating the moves, all is subtle and gentle. They dance tango, cha cha cha, waltz, irish dance and a kind of tap-dancing at the beginning to evocate the Parkinson’s disease with moves they can’t control. Even if the show tries to give us the impression they’re not able to control them, we understand that they needed a lot of work to be perfectly synchronised to each other and make the illusion real. They talk, without a single word, about the life with poetry, tenderness and humour, the life receipt, don’t you think so?

© Cie de la Casquette

A partiture perfectly fitted

Like we said earlier, each movement is amplified by some loudly sound effects realised in live by two musicians, Josselin Moinet and Mehdi Missoumi. Josselin is the one who composed the music. He’s with them since the beginning of the project and he helped them to define the characters inspired by the grandparent and granduncle of Isabelle Verlaine Defaux and Miguel Camino Fueyo. Fun fact, they wear the clothes which belongs to them.

Even if Pierre Richards directed the performance, it’s him who gives the final color to the characters, because the music is always with them, rhythming their life and move. When the male character moves his coat making enough wind to make her be unsteady on one’s feet, it’s coming with a loudly noise made by the musician. All the accessories have also an amplified sound, like the wallets, the handbag or the newspaper. Even if we understand that they amplified the sound of all the objects to be coherent and to make an effect once in the show by disordering the noises, it’s a pity that they don’t let the original sound of some items. The newspaper is the best example, when he’s reading and turning the pages, one of the musician is doing the same thing with a newspaper but near to the micro, so the action is really redundant, and for us, those sound effects reveal a lack of truth that can be easily compensated by a micro tied to the comedian. This could have given a more realistic way to the show and it would interesting to see how the clowns could live in an environment not amplified.

© Cie de La casquette

The ending is very touchy and gives a poetry to the show to make the adult loving more the show and make shining the children’s eyes with dances behind a curtain in which are projecting different seasons symbolising the life passing through. It’s a moment of grace who brings memories and the fact that it was behind a curtain gives an impression of dream, of something who can defy the time and the death… If this moment is great, it’s a shame that we see the computer screen, where is the projecting drawing, on the stage, it wouldn’t cost a lot to turn the laptop or turn off the screen light to keep us totally in the magic.

The artists are excellent and the performance shows us very well how it is to get old, the difficulties that you can have to live all the time (24/7) with someone you love but who also irritates you. The chemistry on stage is total and they bring us easily in their universe and despite the little things that we pointed out, it’s a great show! The proof is that he’s still on the road since ten years, so if it stops in your city, don’t miss the opportunity to see it, adult and children will both be seduced by those characters.

Jérémy Engler, from L'Envolée Culturelle