CHRIS CADILLAC
Compagnie suisse établie à Genève, Chris Cadillac propose un théâtre qui rit de ses propres conventions pour interroger férocement l’inavouable, le pathétique et le fantasmagorique en chacun de nous. Depuis 2011, en salle ou dans l'espace public, ses pièces s'attachent à tramer un trouble entre réalité et fiction. Elles misent sur la surprise et la générosité, l'accident et le quiproquos, la gêne et le plaisir d'être là, et veillent à ce que chaque représentation soit l'occasion d'une rencontre.
ENGLISH VERSION
Chris Cadillac is an American producer who had to flee the United States for multiple reasons like, among others, his serious health problems. In 2010, he has chosen Switzerland as his new home with the intention of benefitting from the best healthcare system and the best environment to be treated. One night, when he was talking to the grim reaper in a hospital in Geneva, he was stroke by the idea of entering the world of Performing Arts. Since 2011, he has created three shows, all written from his hospital bed, each time as if it was the last one. Cadillac’s works are filled with that peculiar vibrating intensity that comes with the imminence of death. (They are, one may also say, near-and-yet-not-quite-death-experiences). His pieces, – Las Vanitas, Médecine Générale and now Claptrap – have radically changed the life of some spectators but have systematically proved to be commercial and critical failures. Ironically, this very fact might be what keeps him alive (together with the cultural subventions which pay for his medical bills). We have reasons to believe that he won’t pass away until he earns the recognition he deserves from his contemporaries.
Chris Cadillac likes to play with truth and lie. Its pieces attempt to stimulate a specific dialogue between a group of actors and a group of spectators. These invitations may be implicit or explicit, insidious, frontal or provocative, but they always aim at opening the possibility of an encounter. Therefore, each piece takes place on the moving border between representation and reception and explores the (potentially conflicting!) dynamics that are produced in this tension.