French comic trio uses hijinks in going for laughs

By Emilie Sueur

JAKARTA (JP): A jacket with a carnation in the buttonhole, a pair of pants, complete with scruffy kneepads, held up by suspenders and a common truck driver's vest: where could this motley fashion arrangement come from but France?

The trio from Les Cousins comic troupe presented a dose of Gallic humor last week during the Jakarta Performing Arts Theater International Festival at Gedung Kesenian.

Their performances of C'est pas dommage (It's Not a Pity), and Et c'est tant mieux (So Much the Better) were thanks to collaboration of Gedung Kesenian and the French Cultural Center.

The three buffoons coming together must have been fated.

Laurent, 34, and Jules, 38, met as they had the same acrobatics teacher, who would drive home his directives by kicking them in the butt. The painful learning process created a tight bond between them.

The pair later got to know Rene, 36, in the French national circus school led by Annie Fratellini, one of the most famous names in the circus world.

In 1990, they left for Japan to perform in a cabaret. At the time they were still working as individuals. But, after getting to know each other and becoming friends, they decided to work together upon returning to France.

At the beginning, the trio tried to join circuses. But they came up short in finding a company that would hire a juggler (Laurent), clown (Rene) and acrobat (Jules) at the same time.

True to their motto "One for all, all cousins", they refused to be separated. This led to them creating Les Cousins.

The name is a reference to a characteristic of the circus world. Before there were circus schools, most traveling shows were family affairs and few outsiders ventured into the ring.

To finance their first show, the three motivated zanies performed in the streets, mainly in Montpellier in the south of France. They played their first routine 500 times all over the world, including stops in Japan and Brazil via Tanzania.

The first show at Gedung Kesenian was held indoors and started with the appearance of a bizarre freak. With its four legs and three heads, it could probably best be described as a sumo wrestler who had been fiddled with by a Frankenstein. The thing was in a huge suit.

The monster mutated and gave birth to three beings slightly closer to human ones as they were limited to two legs and one head. Genetic disturbances were still visible, though, as there was an unusual bulge in their stomachs.

It turned out that this protuberance was a big inflated ball, which became the pretext to hilarious throwing and bouncing games.

Eventually, the antics took their final human shape. But after viewing just some of their performance, we could only wait to see more "alien" aspects of their skills.

Laurent challenged the laws of gravity by juggling on a table while bending dangerously. Jules held him back by his shoulders pads.

But when Jules released his hold, Laurent's feat was even more impressive.

Jules, king of balance, seemed to be happy only if standing upside down. As balancing on his hands on the floor seemed too easy, he did it instead on top of a tower of chairs.

Rene was meanwhile buzzing around, very convincing with his blackened front tooth and arched hairstyle as the simpleton.

Lurking about, getting slapped, falling off chairs, frightening children or tremendously excited like the nastiest child ready to do the stupidest things imaginable, Rene entertained young and old.

Gauged by the audience laughter and reactions of children, the French comics managed to establish a connection.

Time was suspended for a moment when Laurent entered wearing a ballet skirt and shoes. There was no need to fear the show would turn into a lyrical, sugary dance.

The entrance of Rene in a large yellow ballroom gown atop a unicycle quickly refocused the show on its proper frivolous tone.

The second performance, which took place outdoors on Saturday, had a slightly different spirit than the first. It was quite clear the trio found performing on the street to be a more complete experience.

They felt completely at ease in front of an audience seated on simple benches or on mats, as this created a more interactive relationship.

The Cousins are funny, have mastered their discipline and are professionals, just as they claim. But what is perhaps more important is that they do not assume they are superstars.

They manage to avoid the failing of many in show business who grandly consider themselves to be better than their audience.

"The Cousins remember where we came from," Rene said simply.

Their humility is worthy of praise, especially as it gives a special quality to their craft.