He enters the ring, or rather on stage, at the Théâtre du Lucernaire, in Paris, like a troublemaker. Faithful to what he was, but relieved of his excesses, Warren Zavatta, child of the ball, gives us an autobiographical performance, a single on stage entitled “Exit from the track” which hides nothing from us of his life as an artist. troubled and tormented by bipolar disorder. A winning return to the light!
On a frenzied music, he twirls, like a tireless zebulon, balloons in hand, glitter in his eyes and red on his feet, decked out in clown shoes inherited from generation to generation. The trademark of a circus family, of a heavy and powerful heritage, that ofAchilles Zavatta, famous clown of the last century (1915 – 1993), of which Warren is the grandson.
Child of the ball born in 1968, man of many talents, at the same time circus artist, dancer, musician and actor, for an hour and a quarter, he tells us with verve, power, emotion and humor, his life before where , in the 2000s, success accompanies him but leads him to all the excesses, to all the madness, unmanageable as he was then. He gets lost, falls, falls, and does not get up. From the ovation to prison, passing through the psychiatric unit box, his journey is as chaotic as it is painful. Off the track, there will have been: alcoholism, addiction, violence, mental health in disarray… and crossing the desert.
“I didn’t give a shit regarding my comeback. Make a comeback when no one saw that you were gone, with a story of a depressed and alcoholic clown, who got out of prison, but not that, I also did a lot of psychiatric hospital, two or three rehab cures and hop, here I am like a new penny…”
In this very personal, sarcastic and touching show, which he himself subtitles ” the funny story of an indomitable clown“, if he attacks this grandfather, this great clown as famous as he is sad and still so present, it is to better remind him of his attachment to this world of the big top where he comes from and which he does not deny not. If today he has gone off the track, freed from a family burden that is probably too heavy to carry, it is to really enter the stage, in full light and in possession of his means! ” Today I’m clean, I’m fine, I don’t take anything anymore, I’m neither mad, nor mean, nor alcoholic, no cocaine addict, nor rasta man…” he proclaims, released. He is like that Warren, whole, generous and unique! His energy carries us away, hyperactive on stage but so touching. As he puts it in a snap, ” the only difference between a giggle and a giggle is the straightjacket. Laughing with him is truly infectious!
Bernadette Fabregas Gonguet
• “Running out”, by and with Warren Zavatta, Théâtre du Lucernaire, from January 6, 2023 until June 3, 2023, Fridays and Saturdays at 9:30 p.m.. Reservations on this lien.
