The Pitch

"A cigarette, may I? "Asks the man. "Are you serious? "Answers the woman, before unleashing a flood of words about her miserable condition and the many efforts she puts in to achieve the acquisition of a pack of cigarettes - her only comfort! Despite his surprise, the man does not lose his cool. He invites her for “coffee” at his home than finds himself almost instantly in bed with her. After making "love" she lights an other cigarette... "A puff, may I? "Asks the man…

This is the kind of encounters Gilad Kahana offers, in his Tel Aviv chronicles right after the wave of demonstrations against social inequality and the high cost of living, during the summer of 2011. Theses chronicles remind us of the situation in Greece, Spain and Italy. In France the situation is not very different. We talk of austerity in the newspapers. We are told the crisis is near. But it’s already here!

Le Cabaret de l’Austérité is composed of sketches, interactions between people living in a society that is in crisis: economic crisis, political crisis and moral crisis. The scenes take place in the street, in a supermarket, at work or simply at home. Each "ordinary" meeting is absurd. Kahana’s humour is unexpected and ferocious.

The starting point

I discovered Kahana’s writing during a stay in Tel Aviv the summer of 2012. Behind the name Gilad Kahana, there is a journalist in his forties, born in Mexico, the founder of two Israeli rock groups: The Giraffes and the Walking Man. He is also the author of poems about Tel Aviv, and a collection of novelles, as well as many clips that you can find on Youtube. In fact Gilad Kahana is a Star in his country. I asked him to work on his columns in order to make a show. He immediately agreed.

La Reine Blanche

The theatre of La Reine Blanche is located close to the famous theatre Bouffes du Nord, at La Chapelle Metro station in the north of Paris. This charming 200-seat theatre is changing it’s orientation from world music to theatre. We immediately connected with Veronique and Adrien who auditioned us: They loved our proposal and we adored the venue. .

Jardin_culturel_41

Creating the show

After testing the show in readings and other forms, we will finally create the Cabaret de l’Austérité at September 16, 2014. The show will play at La Reine Blanche theatre on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday until 3 January 2015. For this show I invited four actors: Julie Pouillon, Franck Lorrain, Catherine Gandois, Smadi Wolfman and myself, plus 3 musicians of the Fredox orchestra and also engaged the talent of my entire artistic team to make the magic happen.

LE CABARET DE L'AUSTÉRITÉ