French artistes entertain children with comical skit

French artistes entertain children with comical skit

The instant chatter among children gave way to peals of laughter must have been the breakthrough moment in making a connection with the audience for the French artistes who performed a comical skit driven entirely by clowning, acrobatics, and music.

Gilles Charles-Messance, a veteran acrobat-contortionist with roots in traditional circus, and Coline, his musician companion, were in the city recently under the auspices of the Alliance Francaise to present the show “Toyo!”, a production of circus troupe Les Colporteurs, in Ardeche, a department in south-east France.

The show, designed for children , was presented to students of St. Patrick Higher Secondary School and preceding that, the Paavo Orphanage in the city.

“Toyo!”, which had toured across the world, delighting children of different languages and diverse cultures, tells the story of a rib-tickling encounter between Gillou, an acrobat, and cylindrical rings of a construction pipe.

Gillou hears a mysterious sound “tchi, tchi tchi”, leading him to an encounter with Toyo, a colossal hollow pipe. With determination, he embarks on a challenging journey to befriend Toyo. As Gillou gets to know Toyo better, slithering in and out of the pipe, the deepening of their friendship is shown as a sequence of shape shifting acts--- an aeroplane, a hat, a telescope, a hermit crab, and a house.

Through the performance, Coline on the violin, from an ensemble of small instruments, keeps the background score at an eccentric level to suit the antics of Gillou. Through a series of mishaps and laughter-filled moments, the children witnessed an enduring friendship blossoming between the duo.

The lack of dialogue, that leaves the storytelling to the acrobatic skills of Gilles and musical nous of Coline, is the reason why the show has worked universally. The circus troupe has taken “Toyo!” to Spain, Germany, Ecuador, Turkey aside from the home turf of France. The India tour arranged by the Alliance Francaise network is packed with about 24 shows in various cities. Toyo next travels to Sri Lanka.