In collaboration with Etienne Bideau-Rey:

Jerk

Cast

From a novel of Dennis Cooper
Directed by Gisèle Vienne

 

Dramaturgy Dennis Cooper
Music Peter Rehberg (original music) & El Mundo Frio of Corrupted
Lights Patrick Riou

 

Performed by and created in collaboration with Jonathan Capdevielle
Recorded voices Dennis Cooper & Paul P
Stylisme Stephen O’Malley & Jean-Luc Verna
Puppets Gisèle Vienne & Dorothéa Vienne Pollak
Make-up Jean-Luc Verna & Rebecca Flores
Costumes  Dorothéa Vienne Polak, Marino Marchand & Babeth Martin
Ventriloquism teaching  Michel Dejeneffe

 

With the technical team of the Quartz – Scène nationale de Brest
Technical direction for the creation Nicolas Minssen
Technical manager Arnaud Lavisse
Text translation from American to French Emmelene Landon
Drawings Jean-Luc Verna, Courtesy Air de Paris

 

Thanks to l’Atelier de création radiophonique of France Culture, Philippe Langlois & Franck Smith. To Sophie Bissantz for sound effects. Voices and sound effects have been recorded for the Atelier de creation radiophonique.
Thanks to Justin Bartlett, Nayland Blake, Alcinda Carreira-Marin, Florimon, Ludovic Poulet, Anne S – villa Arson, Thomas Scimeca, Yury Smirnov, Scott Treleaven , la galerie Air de Paris, Tim/IRIS & Jean-Paul Vienne.

 


Production and Distribution Anne-Lise Gobin, Alix Sarrade, Camille Queval & Andrea Kerr
Administration Etienne Hunsinger & Giovanna Rua

Partners

Executive producer DACM 
With the collaboration of the Quartz – Scène nationale de Brest (Gisèle Vienne associateartist from 2007 to 2011)
Coproduction Le Quartz – Scène nationale de Brest, Centre Chorégraphique National de Franche-Comté à Belfort dans le cadre de l’accueil-studio and Centro Parraga-Murcia.
With the support of Conseil Général de l’Isère, Ville de Grenoble & the Ménagerie de Verre in the framework of studiolab

 

The company DACM is supported Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication – DRAC Grand Est, by Région Grand Est and by the City of Strasbourg.
The company DACM is regularly supported by Institut Français for its international touring.
Gisèle Vienne is associated artist at the theater Nanterre-Amandiers from 2014, and at the Théâtre National de Bretagne.

 

First production March 5, 6, 7, 8, 11 and 12 2008, Centre d’Art Passerelle – Brest, Festival Antipodes’08 / Le Quartz – Scène nationale de Brest

 

Presentation

From a novel by Dennis Cooper

“Jerk” is an imaginary reconstruction – strange, poetic, funny and somber – of the crimes perpetrated by American serial killer Dean Corll who, with the help of teenagers David Brooks and Wayne Henley, killed more than twenty boys in the state of Texas during the mid-70s.
This show sees David Brooks serving his life sentence. In prison, he learns the art of puppets, which somehow enables him to face up to his responsibility as partner in the crimes. He has written a show that reconstructs the murders committed by Dean Corll, using puppets for all the roles. He performs his show in prison for a class of psychology students from a local university.

Due to the violence and humor of the text, there is an underlying fierceness to the performance. The glove puppet theater is in fact the traditional form used to enact violent illicit subjects. And “Jerk” unabashedly mingles sexuality and violence in the vein of gore aesthetics, thus harking back to the glove puppet repertory.

The text has been staged as a solo for puppeteer, who uses glove puppets and also acts the role of con artist.
The story, however realist it may be, seems to border on unrealism. The play’s apparent realism stems from its linear narration, as well as from its basic true story and from the trickster-puppeteer’s total identification with the fictive character of David Brooks.

“Jerk” merges three plays that were produced in collaboration with the American writer Dennis Cooper: “I Apologize” (2004), “Une belle enfant blonde” (2005) and “Kindertotenlieder” (2007). In these three plays, the links between fantasy and reality are being constantly probed, thereby altering our perception of reality. The more realist “Jerk” puts forth a consistent linear narrative, generating the credibility that undeniably stems from this form. And it is this undeniability that is reexamined by way of our different formal experiences.

 

Jerk, a radioplay – in the framework of the Atelier de Création radiophonique de France Culture

Premiere June 17th, 2007

The radio play “Jerk” was commissioned by Frank Smith for France Culture and the Atelier de Création Radiophonique. It focuses on the deeply schizophrenic nature of the puppeteer’s art by conveying the puppeteer’s mindset and viewpoint. The radio form enables this experience to be intimately shared.

History

Press