Boliloc

In Philippe Genty’s earlier productions magic and surrealism were predominant. His latest work, Boliloc, is somewhat different. Yes, the magic is still there, but it has taken a rather new comical tinge. Perhaps this should be ascribed to the effect exerted upon the maestro by actor Christian Heсq who recently joined the company. Monsieur Heqe has a rather specific appearance and his physique is absolutely exceptional. It is he who adds fun to bizarre.
It all begins with an amazing scene when Alice Osborne is playing with cubes, opening them up one after another and fishing out marionettes with faces of the actors and bodies of the puppets. Suddenly they start moving on their own without any assistance from Ellis. This intricate technical trick is performed by three persons whom we shall see only at curtain call. Philippe Genty’s fantasies call for exquisite craftsmanshipа

Philippe Genty’s Boliloc begins with a simple number with marionettes. The show follows the normal pattern until the marionettes start living the lives of their own and independently on the puppeteer. Genty says “the stage is the landscape of the unconscious, the world of metamorphoses”. And his marionettes turn into people. The director has quite a hand in devising spaces and this productions provides more convincing evidence to this effect. Lights flare up out of nowhere, the characters are shooting upwards. We are in the fringe of the universe. It will not be an overstatement to say that Genty acts in full keeping with the primary theatrical commandment: we forget that we are viewers or that there are actors and technicians who set objects in motion. There is not a single technical detail to be caught by the eye”

Each production by Philippe Genty is a memorable event, a day-dream. His latest work, Boliloc, is an hour and a half of magic. Boliloc is the story of Sybil whose show with marionettes gets out of control and starts living the life of its own. All of a sudden new personages show up and we find ourselves in a miraculous dream world where nothing is impossible. We have to rub our eyes to make sure that all these happenings are facts of reality. The viewer struggles hard to understand how all these lunatic scenes take shape right before his eyes? The picture would be incomplete without mentioning the music of one of Maurice Bejart’s favorite composers Rene Obri...
Genty’s poetic world changes from one performance to another…

With the help of invisible strings Philippe Genty extended to the audiences he manipulates with their feelings. Basically the technique of casting spell on the audience is very simple. All it takes is brilliant actors who can do everything: pull marionettes, perform acrobatic exercises, make faces, engage in a frantic dance… It also takes ideal lighting that imparts depth to the translucent curtain… All this must be seasoned with heady music that seems to be part and parcel of the splendid sets and culminate in the strikingly harmonious combination of all these media so as to achieve the ultimate end – standing ovation of t he audience.
Should one in the meantime try to figure out the meaning or the central idea, the effect could be that of David Lynch’s movies – one would either rack his brains over the director’s concept, or enjoy the incredible aesthetics of the spectacle