STREET ARTISTS IN EUROPE - Fondazione Fitzcarraldo

The heritage of fairground theatre
91
Street Artists in Europe
Alongside the tradesmen’s stalls at 17th and 18th century fairs in Paris were theatre booths
showing curiosities, sideshows and entertainment. Some street artists have revived these popular
entertainment in their own organic performance spaces (marquees, yurts, booths, lorries) that fit
the bodies of the actors and the performance like a second skin. They perform an entertaining
repertoire, sometimes mingling irreverence with parody, interacting very closely with the
audience.
Examples: L’Illustre Famille Burattini, 2 rien Merci, Cirkatomik, O.p.U.S.
This travelling theatre also has close links with puppetry and object theatre, which often appeal
to a smaller audience or at least have an ability to concentrate on quieter storytelling. Typical
examples are Turak (France), Mr Barti (Denmark), Teatr Viti Marcik (Poland), Circolando
(Portugal), Stuffed Puppet (Netherlands).
The street music that of course accompanies urban festivals and storytelling also springs from
the popular tradition of song peddlers who accompany themselves on mechanical organs.
Nowadays it has become an original creative trend that interacts with the urban environment,
either sublimating it or perverting it and making people look at their everyday surroundings
differently. In their shows, companies such as Les piétons (France), Muziekmaatschappij
(Belgium), Ricciotti Ensemble (Netherlands), Audio Gruppe (Germany), and Hoodwink (United
Kingdom) work with musical instruments (accordion, brass, percussion) or machines that they
make to explore new sounds or different relationships with the material.
Transformation of the town
Street artists are fascinating because they erupt into the town. They flout public order, change
the rules for vehicle and pedestrian traffic, alter the normal uses of public space and buildings.
But it is not this public disorder, however appealing it might be, that makes the entertainment.
The story the artists invent in the town they have transformed makes all its inhabitants look at
their familiar surroundings in a different way – and they will go on doing so.
Examples: T.Public-Association d’idées, Ici Même, Délices Dada, Décor Sonore.
The spectator as performer
The public space has become an open stage. Performers are not separated from the audience.
There is no orchestra pit, no fourth wall between the stage and the body of the theatre.
Spectators are not fixed in one position. They are fully involved in the performance, as willing
or unwilling accomplices. Sometimes they even become part of the action. The show cannot
happen without them. They are the leading players, even the playwrights, because sometimes
they have to write the play or the scene in which they have been invited to act.
Examples: Allegro Barbaro (France), Les Souffleurs-Commandos poétiques (France), Les
Goulus (France), les Cubiténistes (France), Lackaal Duckric (France).
PE 375.307