The Pulse in Paris: Nantes

Well, we have finally landed back in Paris after our 7 day trip out on the road and what a whirlwind experience it has been.  Things went so smoothly through Angers that I should have known we’d hit a snag somewhere along the line and that snag turned out to be Nantes.  The crew arrived on Wednesday night (the cast would follow the next day in time for rehearsal) and we were knackered.  Nantes always seems to take a significant amount of work because we perform at a large auditorium on the campus of a Catholic school and they have no lights and we cannot start earlier than the morning of our first show, so it is always a long haul.  However, being that the piece this year was by Tennessee Williams and focused on a homosexual main character, the school suddenly had some issues.  We learned this shortly after getting off the train and did our best to keep it from the actors as we did not want it to interfere with their performance.  I can’t blame anyone except the school (and given the current situation in Rome or the graphic nature of the piece I can’t say I blame them entirely), because we did alert them as to the subject matter well in advance and it seemed that they were not bothered.  Only a few weeks before our arrival did some parents object to their children being exposed to this material, this too I can understand since these children at a fragile age when it comes to sexuality.  Unfortunately, I felt that they were not entirely fair or cooperative with our organizer Simon, who is essentially the engine running the train for us in Nantes.  Since starting to work with us 3 years ago he has taken on more and more responsibility, has helped to grow our audience and has frankly helped to increase the overall quality of our performances their.  He works hard all year round for very little to support us and I know it was hurtful to him to have this all transpire the way it did.  Nonetheless I give him a great deal of credit for his perseverance and diplomacy in dealing with these matters and ultimately the show went on without a hitch.  However, the whole situation did raise some interesting questions for us and created a great deal of fascinating conversation about our work here in general. We had many long conversations with our native French hosts about the socio-political climate around homosexuality in France and though I had always expected the French people as a whole to be more open and understanding about such matters, it seems as though we did in fact find the limit.  It was also a nice reminder too of how fortunate we are to live in an environment in the Bay Area such as we do that tolerates and accepts a wide array of people and personal choices.  But, as I said, other than the school imposing a few extra annoying bureaucratic hoops to jump through the shows went off quite well.

The only other glitch was again one of communication and of course revolved around the items that each city provides for us to use in the show.  We typically tour with the elements that are necessary and unique to the show, such as the car/bar/bed unit; a wooden box with the interior hollow that can be used as various set pieces.  But, for such items as tables and chairs we ask that the presenters in each city provide what we need.  Usually our stage manager, David A. Young, is able to email pictures in advance and we don’t ordinarily end up with something too out of the ordinary.  However, this time around we just simply couldn’t get everyone on the same page.  We use 4 bar stools, 2 cafe chairs, a cafe table, a large sheet of plywood, and a backless, armless bench.  While these seem like fairly generic items, the styles of course vary but the uses for each are often quite specific.  (And you be surprised how challenging it is to find a sheet of plywood in France.)  Simon had gathered all of these items for us, but only about half of them were suitable due to mis-communications.  However, and this is where I must applaud all of our presenters and hosts, he and his co-worker Christine jumped into action wrangling items that would suffice.  This is also an interesting opportunity for us to stretch our creative muscles but seeing what is available to us.  For instance, as we were hanging the lights I noticed that the lighting crew had brought a roadbox that was nearly the same size as our bench.  So we had the actors play with this item (it was on wheels) to see if it would work.  While it was a little hairy and I was quite on edge about actors jumping on and off of an item with wheels, aesthetically it was a great fit.  The shiny steel corners matched the car/bar/bed unit and the fact that it had wheels actually gave it’s use in the train scene a nice touch.  All in all, it was a great example of what commitment and creativity can produce when people from world’s apart come together.

The best part about the entire trip was the wonderful day I spent visiting Les Machines de l’lle Nantes.  Last year had piqued my interest when I saw the giant elephant for which they are world famous but I was in absolute heaven wondering through the museum and workshop of these magnificent giant creatures.  I wish I could do it justice by describing it but instead I will include the link and you should all check it out: http://www.lesmachines-nantes.fr/english/index.html.  And I’ll throw in a few pics too.  It truly was one of the coolest places I have ever been in France and from a theatrical standpoint lands in the top five most amazing things I’ve seen.

Now, we get a few days rest to celebrate the Easter/Passover holiday and then we hit the road again.