PANIQUE!

Panique! was specially designed for Olivier Martin Salvan, an insatiable, earthy, corpulent, and incredibly hairy actor-ogre! The idea was to transform him into a monstrous, melancholic creature, half-man, half-goat, whom we observe living without caring about our presence, a bit like Nénette – the famous orangutan from the Jardin des Plantes menagerie. Our Pan sits on his golden rock, idle and lonely. Surrounded by the sounds of nature, he is overcome by sudden sexual urges (nymphs, goats) or broods over memories of his childhood as little Pan, abandoned and cast out of Olympus. He also plays a little on his pan flute or sketches, like an anachronistic reminiscence, a few steps from Nijinsky’s Faun.

The origin of his flute, always present in the iconography of the god, is told to us by Ovid in Metamorphoses:

“…how the nymph, despising his entreaties, ran through the wilds till she came to the calm waters of sandy Ladon; and how when the river stopped her flight she begged her sisters of the stream to change her; and how Pan, when he thought he now had Syrinx, found that instead of the nymph’s body he only held reeds from the marsh; and, while he sighed there, the wind in the reeds, moving, gave out a clear, plaintive sound. Charmed by this new art and its sweet tones the god said ‘This way of communing with you is still left to me.’ So unequal lengths of reed, joined together with wax, preserved the girl’s name.”

Hairy, pot-bellied, bearded, horned, bare-chested, Olivier Martin-Salvan stands on large golden clogs, extensions of his beastly paws.

Like traditional representations of the demigod, he is perched on a fragment of nature, a remnant of his mythological homeland, Arcadia.

A precious object, entirely covered in gold leaf, this small sculptural territory is the only scenographic element in the show.

Panique! is a short form, without text or words, designed for immediate proximity with the audience. Entering a dark, smoky space, the audience discovers Pan sitting on his rock. The audience and our demigod are in a shared space, which adapts to different performance configurations.

Melancholic and angry, indifferent to the presence of the audience, Pan seems to be dwelling on the events of his debauched and solitary life. His mood is unstable and, between naps, screams and lustful urges, the spectator is kept in a state of amused unease.

Music (Pan’s flute) and dance (Nijinsky’s faun) are also brought to life through the multiple talents and extraordinary physicality of Olivier Martin Salvan.

Created in 2019

Concept, direction, sculptures Yvan Clédat & Coco Petitpierre

Performance and co-direction Olivier Martin-Salvan

Time: 30 minutes

Production Lebeau et associés

Creative residencies

Le Centquatre-Paris

Parc de La Villette