On July 21, 2014, two months before the death of Gilles Latulippe, Réal Béland took part in an evening in tribute to the king of Quebec burlesque. “I had chosen a scene from the play Balconville, QC, says the comedian. The actor Germain Houde read the stage directions, and I, on the stairs, tried very awkwardly, getting stuck in all the props, to accomplish the actions requested. The success of this number based on a mixture of homage and derision, respect and transgression of conventions gave me the idea of a show, on which I worked with Stéphane Lefebvre for three years. »
The time has come for this show devoted to the greatest artists of physical humor throughout time. Directed by Luc Senay, comic nature will be presented in fifteen cities across Quebec over the next year. Réal Béland and Didier Lucien, two beasts of the stage for the less unconventional, intend to deploy all their talents there.
“We use the ingredients of the theater, and even those of the conference, explains Béland, but we are still closer to a comedy show. We play roles, we temporarily take on the classic jobs of the straight man and comedy, but the real Réal and the real Didier are never far away. Since we were working together for the first time, it was risky, but I feel like I won my bet because we get along really well, the communication is good on stage and off stage. »
“The show, believes Lucien, is the meeting of two guys who deeply love this kind of comedy and who want to share it with the world. They have favorites, sketches they are dying to perform, but they will realize that it is a lot more difficult to accomplish than they thought. We must therefore expect that things will not go as planned, that there will be sand in the gears, complications that should add a layer of comedy. “I always need to feel that I’m going to do a bad job, explains Béland, and this time is no exception to the rule. »
Conference-show
In an unorthodox, non-exhaustive and absolutely not chronological conference on the history of this so-called physical or even visual comic, the duo revisits, updates, dissects and explains certain mythical scenes borrowed from masters whose gags of ‘a formidable efficiency have stood the test of time. Let us think of Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Jacques Tati, Louis de Funès, Laurel and Hardy, but also of Olivier Guimond, Steve Martin, Jim Carey and Les Foubrac.
“Physical comedy has evolved a lot, says Réal Béland. At first, it was big, it looked like a clown. Today, it has been refined, it has gained in truth. For me, the best example of that is Pierre Richard. It’s high-flying histrionics, elevated to the rank of a work of art. I dare to believe that what we do, Didier and I, is close to that. Certainly, it is a great inspiration. »
Didier Lucien recognizes that the genre is demanding: “It’s much more difficult than what my theatrical friends might think,” says the actor. To achieve this truth, this spontaneity in the breaks in tone, so that the public can believe that what is happening on stage is actually improvised, requires a lot of physical agility and quick thinking. So much so that I sometimes use tools from commedia dell’arte, mime and even the clown here and there. »
Create the occasion
“We never have the opportunity to play these things, explains Lucien. It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. It took someone like Réal to imagine such a thing. Sometimes shows contain physical humor, but very rarely the entire performance is devoted to it. I’m enjoying every moment, because I’m pretty sure a similar occasion won’t happen again anytime soon. “” It had to happen now, adds Béland. In your fifties, it’s funny to get angry. At 70, it’s less funny, it arouses concern, or even worse, pity. »
We can’t help noticing that this type of physical comedy seems undervalued by the establishments where actors are currently trained. “It’s true, admits Béland. Perhaps because we are among the last to have seen these comedians on stage or on screen. It is all the more inexplicable that this humor seems to me to be part of the DNA of Quebecers. »
“I think the time has come,” says Lucien. The material we are looking at is just old enough today to be of interest to the public again. Earlier, I’m not sure people were ready to revisit that. Personally, I am very happy to know that my children will discover this rich material thanks to the show. »
Réal Béland could not do a show about physical comedy without making room for Ti-Gus and Ti-Mousse, the popular duo that his father, Réal Béland, formed with Denyse Émond in the 1950s and 1960s. never wanted to pay homage to them, because my memory is too beautiful. I didn’t want to touch that, out of respect, out of modesty. This time, I think that by messing around, by the band, we pay them a kind of homage, that we wink at their process, their precision, their rhythm, the unique nature of their dynamics. »