Pulling the strings
Small hands, don't you know? Jonathon Rodgers talks to Canadian puppeteer Serge Deslauriers about life as a new age carnie
La Clique... Careful where you put your hands, mister
When you think of modern puppets,
the mind jumps to Puppetry of
the Penis or John Cusack getting
thumped for making his characters
hump a wall in Being John Malkovich.
Well, Cabaret Décadanse isn’t
puppet porn. It is, however, titillating
burlesque choreographed to pop,
blues jazz and show-tunes. Characters
like Lauren the Madame, Conrad
the French transvestite and Koko the
Latin lover come to life, effortlessly
creating a tawdry ballet.
The brain child of SOMA, a
Montreal-based puppet theatre company,
the show came about over dinner
and a glass of red as puppeteers
Serge Deslauriers, Raynald Michaud
and Énock Turcotte tried to brighten
a bleak Québec winter. “I took out
Lauren [one of Deslauriers’ stringed
creations] and said ‘OK, let’s try it’,”
Deslauriers explains. “It just clicked.
It was really fluid and really sensual.
It was right on first time.”
And improvisation still plays a
big part of Cabaret Décadanse. “The
show’s choreography is like a highway,”
Deslauriers says. “Because you
know where you’re going so well you
can take whatever exit you want. If it
doesn’t work you can just go back to
the highway.”
The freestyle nature of the performance
also means the puppets take
on a life of their own. “Sometimes the
puppets make me laugh in the show
because I have no idea what they’re
going to do,” says Deslauriers.
The adult-only cabaret puppet
group got their big break in 2000 after
nabbing the People’s Choice award
at the Montreal Comedy Festival.
Since then they have travelled the
globe, and have just been performing
as part of La Clique for the Sydney
Festival – with an extended season at
Sydney Opera House as part of the
Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras festival.
“La Clique is like a really big family;
it’s good to have a kind of stability
in all the instability of travelling. It is
great to have people to count on, that
will talk to you, look in your eyes and
can tell if you’re really feeling good
or bad. It makes a big difference.”
Cabaret Décadanse is on until Feb 23
at The Studio, Sydney Opera House.