A 13-year-old kid appears on the stage of the theater in Arles. His name is Ernest Rius and plays one of the characters in his composition, a pebble farmer from the Crau plain. The teenager is incredibly present and serious in the most absurd comedy there is. His four or five minute monologue completed, the 300 spectators applauded him wildly.
Before and after her performance paraded a granny reciting poetry, dancers, musician-composers, rappers, slammers, pianists (young or old), an 80-year-old doctor who, to a tune by Brassens, mocks the unvaccinated… Most of them went on stage for the first time in their life. It’s beautiful, uneven depending on the performance, but most often very successful, always touching. It’s all part of the Arles newspaper, a collective work in five episodes, the fourth of which will be played on April 30.
Spare the egos
Twenty years ago, in Paris, Edouard Baer had already invented The Grand Mezze, show which saw amateurs and professionals of the scene succeed one another. Appointed “associate artist” of the municipal theater of the sub-prefecture of Bouches-du-Rhône for the 2021-2022 season, the director and actor repeated the experience by launching an appeal to the inhabitants of the area.
Every eve of the five Arles Newspapers (the last is scheduled for June 26 at the Roman Theater), there are several dozen to present their number, which must not exceed five minutes. About twenty are selected, Edouard Baer making the show between two passages: “For me, it’s as important as presenting the Césars. »
“The public is especially benevolent, but, all the same, to take a slap in front of three hundred people, it hurts. But I don’t want anyone to feel humiliated. » Edward Baer
Inevitably, the failed are disappointed, like this transvestite, lookalike of Mylène Farmer, whose almost complete striptease did not seduce Edouard Baer and his team. Many applicants present stand-up, often unconvincing. “It’s complicated when you’re not used to it, you have to learn the rhythm, perform first in front of very small audiences. Here, the public is especially benevolent, but, all the same, to take a slap in front of three hundred people, it hurts. But I don’t want anyone to feel humiliated. »
He thus explains to the non-chosen actors that their performance is not ready or too long… The rehearsals take place on Saturday afternoon then on Sunday, before the show, in the evening, at 7 p.m. “We have very little time, it’s exhausting! Especially since I don’t want a patronage party or an end-of-year show. »
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