The Burlesk Center is a European center for research and refinement of contemporary burlesque arts.
He tries to make a point about the new Clown pedagogy
and discover the relationship between the actor and the man, the theater and life.
It offers workshops throughout the world, and a summer seminar in Switzerland in Ticino
Foto: Marco Beltrametti
PIERRE BYLAND
Author, actor, director, pedagogue, and pianist. Trained at Jacques Lecoq’s School of Theatre in Paris, where he also taught for 12 years. Co-founder of the Compagnie Byland-Gaulier, Compagnie Les Fusains with Mareike Schnitker, and theCentre National des Arts du Cirque, where he invented the FAC: the Formation for Actors of Circus and of the Art of Clown. Author, co-author, director and interpreter of scores of shows like: “Le Concert, “Les Assiettes”, “L’Homme à la valise”, “Autour d’une porte”, “Une Belle journée”, “Confusion”, “Homo Stupidens” ecc. He has collaborated as an actor with prestigious directors and authors such as: Beno Besson, Roger Blin, Samuel Beckett, Antoine Vitez, Jérome Savary, Ctibor Turba, Jan Kratochvil, Boleg Poliva, François Billedoux, Edmond Tamiz, Peter Fitzi, Jossy Wyler, Robert Bouvier, Philippe Mentha, Marcel Robert, Valentin Rossier, Claude Stratz, Hervé Loichemol ecc. Recently, he interpreted the principle role in “Bonhomme et les Incendiaires” by Max Frisch at theComédie de Genève, directed by Claude Stratz, and “Nathan le Sage”, by Lessino, at Théâtre de Carouge, directed by Hervé Loichemol.
“...it was Pierre Byland, a student at the school before he returned to teach here, who introduced the famous red nose, the smallest mask in the world, which would help people to expose their naiveté and their fragility.” Jacques Lecoq, The Moving Body, Routledge
Mareike Schnitker
Parallel to her teaching studies, she also studied the piano, dance, and theatre. As an actress with the Company Carroussel in Amsterdam, she participated in the creation of many shows from 1970 to 1972. After this experience, she decided to move to Paris and attend the school of Jacques Lecoq in order to improve her craft. She stayed there two years and completed her training with one additional pedagogic year. Her research was oriented towards a theatre of creation, developing and encouraging humor, irony and the absurd. For this reason, she decided to stay in Paris and work with the Compagnie Byland-Gaulier, with which she participated in several creations. In 1981, she co-founded with Pierre Byland the Compagnie Les Fusains, with which she has made many shows. She is the mother of two girls and continues her pedagogic activities by organizing workshops for actors like The Actor and the Mask.
Foto: Dante Carbini
COMPAGNIE LES FUSAINS
The Compagnie Les Fusains was founded in March, 1981, in the “Cité des Fusains” in Montmartre, Paris. It marked the will of several friends from different countries to extend and expand their work together, creating an international meeting and workplace.
Our company doesn’t represent a definitive style. The theatrical forms that we pursue are very close to those often called comic, derisive, absurd, and grotesque. We love humorous stories because they glide quickly towards poetry.
The first requirement for the work is to have no separation between the actors, the authors, and the directors. In this way, the actors confront both the solitude of work and the life of the company, always striving towards an original, company-developed creation.