Baroque and excentric, virtuosos and poets.- 18/01/2006.

Théâtre des Nouveautés.- Tarbes.
Pierre Challier - La Nouvelle République.

Rapturous instruments, gags and custard pies: Los Excéntricos really juggle the laughs. So is this clown show a bit old-fashioned? No, no, dear friends, quite the opposite. There is something you need to know about clowns. They do not just appear on the news at eight on channel TF1 plastered in make-up and wearing stiff collars. It is also worth knowing dear children, dear friends, that the ones you see on the television are generally poor circus artistes who made a failure of their true vocations and are just paid to keep the Barnum big top going using old gags about the dole. Each custard pie avoids them getting the good kick up the backside they would get in any other self-respecting circus. So children, my dear friends, real clowns, the ones who perform in the circus or on the music hall stage, the ones who know how to do the job with enough talent to make you laugh yourself to death, the ones who can put up with hard slaps to calm the rage we all feel about the injustices of life and the frustrations of daily living, those who dare to do the things we would never do in an official meeting, our safety valves: you do not get to see them in the street or on TV. That makes it an even greater pleasure for us to come across the genuine article, real clowns, especially if they are talented. And that is what Los Excéntricos were like when they came to show us their indispensable red noses on Monday afternoon at the Nouveautés theatre. Los Excéntricos: Zaza and his horrific laugh that tears through the show like a needle and makes you die laughing so you hardly know where you are, Sylvestre, with his two heads and his three legs and, finally, the smart and indispensable Marcelline with her siren\'s voice like a factory horn. BAROQUE AND ECCENTRIC This is a trio of musical clowns who follow the great tradition of the baroque and eccentric, slapstick and tempo loco, who truly make their audiences writhe with laughter. They offer a very personal performance thanks to their skill with juggling ball percussion, the double bass mop, the trumpet violin, the ukulele and the squeezebox, not to mention the indispensable Stradivarius-branded musical saw. All these instruments allowed us to enjoy a repertoire inspired by both the great classic of Nino Rota, with a Fellini-style ambience, as well as Led Zeppelin\'s intro to Black Dog before moving into Alabama Song version Doors played with an electric vacuum cleaner, but above all to split our sides laughing at a real, sonorous and visual inventiveness revisiting this genre. A three-legged tango, a magic trick in which the head is being searched for rather than doing the searching, the murder of an allergic singer or a duo of entwined accordions… The true problem with clowns is reality, in which we see the “sensible” world as being developed, but in that world clowns often trip over their own shoes, because that world, with its rules and its obligations of all kinds is often unbearable, even for normal people… Los Excéntricos were a real breath of fresh air, who were able to start off on the wrong foot, yet do a graceful pirouette, and play the trumpet by thumbing their noses at us. VIRTUOSOS AND POETS They show us that two plus two makes five, that they can pull away the chair and stay firmly on their feet and therefore that the world is simply what you make of it depending on how you want to look at it, with or without humour, with or without fantasy, whether or not we accept the only valid reality. The point is not to act as if life were a tragedy, since after all, none of us are getting out of it alive. A set of surreal and poetic images highlighted another of the trio\'s true talents: they are three real musicians, thoroughly trained to play each and every kind of instrument, as though it were a classical guitar, but above all to play well, with sensitivity and inspiration, as they finish off playing La Vie en Rose with the musical saw. All in all, it is a great show for everyone, burlesque just as it should be, and it was a real triumph with the Nouveautés theatre audience. With no fear of the bird flu, people were packed in, cooped up like chickens, to applaud “Musica Maestro”, which starred true masters. They leave a smile on your face that lasts for days.
Pierre Challier - La Nouvelle République.