British director Tim Etchells is back in Avignon for the annual theatre festival, where his latest play is being performed around the city in locations from schools to gardens. “L’Addition” is a hilarious, absurdist sketch set in a restaurant. As the scene between a waiter and a customer spirals out of control, the audience is left wondering who holds the power.
By way of an introduction, British playwright, artist and director tells RFI that he has been making “strange performances” for most of his life. In pushing the boundaries of contemporary theatre, he is confident that where there’s a will there’s a way.
“If you get the pitch of those things right and you make an offer with those works to the public, people can get on board. People can find something in what you’re doing,” he explains.
Born and bred in Sheffield, the artistic director of performance group Forced Entertainment is also a visual artist and writer. His work combines mediums to explore the world and ask questions in a playful, provocative way.
“L’Addition” (The Bill), starring comic duo Bert and Nasi (Bertrand Lesca and Nasi Voutsas), is no exception.
The action revolves around one scene: a waiter is serving a client a glass of wine in a restaurant. The dialogue is repeated over and over, each time more absurd due to an “accident”. From this stems a series of role reversals, each more surreal than before.
Locked in an escalating power play, the actors tie themselves almost literally in knots, leaving the audience wondering who is who. It is ridiculous, but at the same time, asks the very real question of who has the upper hand in any given situation. And when all the dust settles, who will pay the bill?
It is performed entirely in French, and despite admitting to not mastering the language, Etchells says directing the play doesn’t faze him in the slightest.
He says his job was made easier by the fact that Bertrand is a native French speaker, while Nasi is a native Anglophone. Their collaboration involved a three-step process, beginning with a text in English, a professional translation, and finally their own adaptation for the stage.
“They’re brilliant performers and so I felt like we could take risks because they have the capacity to make all kinds of material feel live and interesting and exciting,” Etchells says of Bert and Nasi. At various intervals, the actors speak directly to the audience, explaining their actions deadpan and getting many giggles along the way.
“The audience is brought into a very playful relationship with the action. They learned the rules of the game and as they learned them, we have fun together,” Etchells told the press on the eve of the premiere.
One of the other challenges he enjoyed was designing the play for different settings, opening the scope of the types of audience likely to attend.
From school halls and gardens to archaeological sites, the piece is designed to be performed anywhere, anytime with a minimal amount of fuss, he says. The only props are two tables, two chairs, some cutlery, tablecloths and napkins. The rest of the magic comes from the spectators themselves.
“Placing the work in front of an audience is the beginning of a sort of activation… We make an offer but the work isn’t even there until an audience starts interacting with it and thinking about it, watching it together and puzzling about it,” the director says.
Etchells is no stranger to France, where he has been involved in visual arts at the Centre Pompidou in Paris and numerous performances in French cities over the years. He last came to the Avignon festival in 2012 to present the pieces “The Coming Storm” and “Tomorrow’s Parties”, as well as the “Empty Stages” exhibition with photographer Hugo Glendinning.
The Festival d'Avignon runs from 5-25 July.
