Home page > Event reviews > Z’Arts Up et Z’Ailleurs 2012 > Wet Picnic invites us to take a hat and join in the party

Wet Picnic invites us to take a hat and join in the party

Wednesday 23 May 2012 , by Cécile Babin

All the versions of this article: [English] [français]

The table is set, gifts are ready and birthday hats are out. A young man in suit and tie is sitting down at the table with a noisemaker in his mouth. He does not look delighted and even seems sad. Cars and scooters must stop to let the procession go. Some drivers express their annoyance. Our host blows his noisemaker and invites them to join in the party but they are not in the mood.

The table eventually stops and the party can start !

The 4 sidekicks of the Wet Picnic company put birthday hats on some peoples’ head and give noisemakers and gifts to others. And it is the countdown: three, two, one, zero! Everyone is blowing his small trumpet and the music leads us to dance.

The life of our host, Malcolm, is flashing by before our eyes, punctuated by a series of birthdays. No one has a happy ending as Malcolm is always finishing alone, successively abandoned by his family, wife, teddy bear and friends. All of them refer to the loneliness of a clumsy but charming man. Despite his best efforts to arrange things, this sort of Mr Bean only makes them more complicated. We cannot help laughing and in the same time we are touched by this man we would like to hug.

The 4 actors go from one situation to another at a frenetic pace. Words are useless, movements speak for themselves.

With The Birthday Party, WetPicnic deals with the theme of the anniversary and its irony. We feel compelled to be happy just because it is the day of our birth but a deep loneliness and sadness invade us.

Malcolm leaves as sad as he was when he arrived: lipstick on his face, his mouth full of cake, a mountain of dog balloons around him and a skeleton dancing on the table next to a living birthday cake, reality or nightmare?

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