Published in the Scotsman
WHO knows what shenanigans the knick-knacks on your sideboard get up
to when your back is turned. The porcelain rabbit, the lace doilies, the
whisky miniature, the decorative napkin holder, the reproduction Alpine
chalet … they all look innocuous enough but, according to Collectif Aïe
Aïe Aïe, they’re secretly at it like – well, like porcelain rabbits
In
this short and sweet
two-hander, performed on a table top for a tiny
audience as if by special request, puppeteers Charlotte Blin and Julien
Mellano tell a tale of sex and romance using the kind of objects we
associate with kitsch living-room decoration.
The biche and lapin
(doe and rabbit) of the title could be the pottery figurines that take
pride of place on your grandmother’s mantelpiece. Your grandmother,
however, is unlikely to have imagined them getting off with each other
or seductively sharing the dish of pâté contained in their hollow
insides.
Neither is she likely to have wired them for sound (the music
is one of the show’s strong points), and even in her most depraved
moments, she will not have seen an image of sexual congress in a napkin
penetrating a napkin ring, or a lusty bottle of spirits emptying itself
into a virgin glass.
Oddly, none of this strikes one as rude or
salacious. It’s as innocent as the doilies that fall as snow across the
miniature landscape, blanketing the cottage where two neighbours are
busy making the bed squeak. For all the innuendo, this is an essentially
romantic vision, a view of sexual attraction that is simple, mutual and
conflict-free.
At just 30 minutes long, this wordless show is not
going to change your life, but it’s the kind of quirky discovery that
makes the Fringe special.
Star rating: * * * *
© Mark Fisher, 2012
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