By Lucy Komisar
Taking off from Charlie Chaplin’s 1931 “City Lights,” this brilliantly scripted and performed mime play takes iconic moments from the film and adds scenes Chaplin would have approved. Directed smartly by Alwina Najem-Meyer, the actors are all excellent, especially Chaplin’s tramp, superbly created by Russian performer Dmitiri Rekatchevski, who was trained by the master, Marcel Marceau, in Paris.
Chaplin was the world’s most accomplished mime and re-creating his famous silent is a tribute to his art form.
The sets and costumes (styles of the 1920s) are in black, white and gray, as they would have appeared in the film. Fine keyboardist Clément Darlu plays the music heard at the silents.
The elements at first seem disjointed, but they will all make sense and create a clear script.
A tramp is lying on a bench, hat and cane on a pole. He is interrupted by a fight. He runs into a cop (Julien Jansen). A lady arrives, he thinks she wants him, but she comes for another. His love will turn out to be a young blind woman (a charming Najem-Meyer) who arrives with a basket of white carnations.
His nemesis will be the smart caricature of a lady (Lauren Launay), cigarette dangling from her mouth, whose walk says “tough.” She runs a café.
In moments of slapstick, a rich guy in a top hat (Raphaël Guérin) twists and pratfalls against a street light, and a robber (Launay) shoots the cop, who is saved by his metal badge.
The café proprietor hires the tramp as a waiter, and he does pratfalls as chairs are pulled out. The café lady and cop jitterbug.
The tramp wears the flower girl’s carnation in his button hole. Suddenly he sees a newspaper headline: “Doctor finds cure for blindness.” He will collect a lot of money and give it to the lady. Sometime later, he discovers she is running a flower shop. And is sighted. She gives him a red rose.
The artistry is exceptional. My favorite piece was the choreographed fight between the tramp and a musclebound boxer (Jansen). See the video.
There are only five actors in the production, though the multiple roles they play makes it seem like more. The signs, befitting Chaplin’s “titles,” are all in English. This troupe and this play ought to be presented widely outside France.
“Lights on Chaplin.” Directed by Alwina Najem-Meyer. Wahnsinn Company. Chapelle des Italiens, 33 rue Paul Saïn, 84000 Avignon. tel 33 9 5242 6672. Runtime 1hr10min. June 29 to July 21, 2024. Festival OFF Avignon.