Performances

FORGOTTEN BALL

15 - 16 Oct 2003

Bourvil
Who was André Raimbourg called Bourvil (1917-1970)? Nobody else than a companion in misery of Louis de Funese in very famous French comedies from the sixties, as e.g. The Big Spree or A Born Loser.
Bourvil however was also a poet and a member of a cabaret group. He is among others an author of the Forgotten Ball.

Forgotten Ball
What about to divide to a poetic world of Bourvil's songs? And what about to remember the name of another forgotten ball? Which name was, which name was…
Come in, friends. It has already started. It is round like a dance parquet, round like a circumference of a dial, round like one hour of a performance. It is round and warm, atmosphere like in a pub, the hall is full of coffeehouse desks and on its edge there is a small night-club the owner of which is a waiter - musician. Sit down, dear friends: there is an orange juice on the zinc bar (the zinc is a conductive metal from the point of a friendship) and air is full of emotions. Three musicians - singers do not serve you here any cheap song. In the text we can hear Bourvil with a particular style and poetry of life that this figure, a swinging August with rolled up socks, has masked undoubtedly.
The cabaret performance is suitable for the audience from 7 to 77 years.

"Songs with an excellent performance based on the Bourvil cabaret songs. The forgotten ball has still existed, in the coffee-bar created for this performance. Poetry, that will be appreciated by audience of any age." TF1, News at 1 p.m.

"How to return life to Bourvil's cabaret songs of general validity? The producer Jean-Pascal Viault is inviting us for a new and a theatre one reading of a lovely work, among funny stories and nostalgic love affairs. When the lights are switched on again, everybody has still felt emotion." Libération

"Three musicians singers stimulate us to explore the Bourvil's words and notes. It is a beautiful and magical moment that is telling us about unhappy loves, about "whipping-boys" at school. There is much poetry here, and as Bourvil says in his song, there was a lovely time at the forgotten ball.
The performance you should surely see." Tartines et strapontins, France Culture.

"A miracle of a performance is fulfilled: the wings of a small bistro with smell of nostalgia, ten little desks with flowers, an accordion, a guitar. The performance is full of tender and humour, with vocal moments full of escalation." France musiques.

"A particular intimacy is forming. These "bourvilesque" songs absorb you, address you strongly and talk straight to your soul. Compositions full of tender and naivety, where laugh is embracing nostalgia " 92 express.

"The world of these three figures is not only for children. The trio is slipping through the desks and a last burst of laugh of the inimitable Bourvil prevails upon the audience as well" L´Yonne républicaine.