I coach her and help her build up a show for children. Listen to her testimony about our work together:
We first met in the Eighties. At that time we created a street and cabaret act. I still remember our complicity in creation and play.
Nowadays we work on a theatre project for children. Every time we work together I am impressed by his capacity for creating judicious and unattended effects: elements that keep the children attentive until the end of the performance.
His knowledge of rhythm, gesture, of emotions, of suspense – indispensables for the success of a creation – result undeniably from his long experience on the stage, as well as from his directing in the role of comedian, pantomime and dancer…
He has the talent to associate poetry, magic and sensibility to crucial moments when the performance is at its most dramatic point (and risks becoming too heavy for the young audience). His comical point of view also allows him to pass from drama to comedy.
Remaining a comedian himself while acting as a director, he is in perfect synchronisation with me and my improvisation and character research. This allows him to guide me closely in my research. It is a special emotional situation for him because – being in symbiosis with me – he shares all my emotions, my difficulties, my doubts, my hesitations and, fortunately, also my moments of justness and joy when the character is awakening. This spirit of conspiring allows us to push the limits appearing at a certain moment very far and to deepen the emotion giving sense to the play to a maximum.
I stopped working for several years and had lost all my bearings as a comedian. I affronted terrible doubts about myself and my work. With the help of his attention and his kindness I regained my self-confidence.
And he dances tango divinely…
Thérèse Dekie
