Qui est fou ?

Le Monde, 31 January 2002
The “songspiel” of Ribac and Schwabe

Squabbles and betrayals within a multinational corporation. The body of executive Chris Danford rises from the muddy waters. Suicide or murder? An investigating judge is questioning individuals who might have had an interest in this disappearance, one woman and two men. Thanks to a young genius skilled at deciphering computer memory, a semblance of an explanation comes to light. So much for the plot of Qui Est Fou? by the Ribac-Schwabe Company, a pop opera directed by François Abou Salem for six voices, ten musicians (the excellent Herméneutique Orchestra), two acrobats and a VJ (the video equivalent of a techno DJ).

Created and co-produced by the Moulin du Roc – Niort’s Scène nationale – and the Opéra-Grand Théâtre de Reims – an institution deserving immediate praise for this initiative—Qui est fou ? which premiered in mid-January, evokes the Songspiel form pioneered by Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill. Like them, composer-bassist François Ribac and singer-actress Eva Schwabe are interested in the facts of our present time. Far from the simplistic, black-and-white morality of Starmania, the villains in Qui Est Fou ? are not only ‘very’ bad, the victim or the judge are not only pure souls. It is up to the spectator to exercise their capacity for judgement by listening to the songs and certain elements of the staging. Ribac has composed an inventive and fluid score that moves back and forth between jazz, pop, song, and the relationship between acoustic and electric sounds, always with an eye to the melodic clarity magnified by certain experimentalists of the 1960s and 1970s (Carnaby Street schools, Soft Machine/Caravan, American psychedelia, the German scene, etc.) a sound currently being rediscovered by contemporary acts like The High Llamas. The libretto features texts primarily by Marie-Claire Pasquier, Hervé Le Tellier, Ribac and Schwabe, with borrowings from Rainer Maria Rilke or William Blake.

Words in French, English and German that fit exactly with the diversity of the timbres and the flow of the voices. Eva Schwabe (the judge) comes from a lyrical and cabaret background. Her description, in German, of the corpse is a moment of pure horrific grace. Marie-Jeanne Iché (the president of a rival company) starts from jazz and rock improvisation and tends towards the lyrical. A double highlight during a lift by the acrobats or the confrontation with the judge. Cathal Coughlan (rock star, friend or foe to Danford) exudes that haunted power typical of British artists on the fringes. François Gauthier (manipulator or manipulated), bass-baritone, comes from the opera. As for Jamil Gaspar, 11 years old, his sense of placement is a lesson for the “Star Academy”.

François Abou Salem’s minimalist staging manages the characters’ movements as if they were playing chess. It lacks a bit of legibility, especially for the two acrobatic hitmen, whose beautiful movements are mostly decorative. Text, photographs, and film clips are projected onto a large screen; this is where the dead man, played by Martin Newell, appears. A special treat in Qui est fou ? is the presence of Newell, a close associate of Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding—the pop duo XTC. Though physically absent, he is strikingly present thanks to Ribac’s creative vision.

Sylvain Siclier