Harlequin & Musketeer
In 2002, the Réattu museum was the testbed and theatre for Trait de mémoire, a performance written by Thierry Paillard of the Le Rouge et le vert theatre company, and inspired by the musketeers in Picasso's donation to the museum of 1971. With a text that revolved around the imagination and the artist's life, gestures and music inhabited by a particular world of images, staging and lighting adapted to the building's nooks and crannies, for one special evening, the Grand Prieuré was transformed into a colourful Spanish dream.
The City of Arles and the museum wanted to take this still further and so two new sections were added to the work ( I Arlequin and II Peintre & Modèle), which took their inspiration from the other themes in the collection. For the first time, in spring 2004, the complete work, Le Picalogue, was performed in its entirety at the Réattu Museum.
The show was the subject of a special museum publication, an illustrated book which reproduces the text for the first time and in all its splendour. As the museum was both the subject and object of Le Picalogue, it was only natural for it to become a laboratory, cultivating the rich humus of its own collections to grow the shoots of a new art genre, engaging new audiences and new players in the cultural life of Arles.
In 2008, in order to bring this unique experience to a wider public, Thierry Paillard produced an adaptation of the play for a younger audience. For Le petit Picalogue, he created a new mise-en-scène, taking a different path through the museum.
« PICALOGUE » : a triptych for theatre by Thierry Paillard, staged by Valérie Barral and Thierry Paillard. Musical arrangement by René Villermy, lighting by Éric Rolland, Arlequin and Comédia masks created by Sandrine Hatt-Naldini, decor by Denis Hatt, costumes by Maargret Koornstra. Photography credits - Caroline K. The players : Valérie Barral, Marko Nikolic, Virginie Lafontaine, Roland Pichaud, Thierry Paillard ; Dance and choreography by Claudia Flammin. Musicians : Cloé Picquier, viola da Gamba ; Toni Torelli, lute and theorbo; René Villermy, vihuela, lute and theorbo.
