A Thiéfaine fan on stage

The piece I'll be arriving by the 10:43pm elevator offers a one-man show like few others, in which Vaud-based actor Philippe Soltermann pays tribute to singer Hubert-Félix Thiéfaine and questions the relationship between fan and idol.

«I'll arrive by the elevator at 10:43 pm / From Babylon / I'll know nothing of your habits / You may even be dead / But I'll ask for your hand to cut it off.» These lyrics, as mysterious as they are hilarious, taken from Hubert-Félix Thiéfaine's debut album, bewildered many a teenager in the seventies and eighties. Some mistrusted them; others, on the contrary, entered the world of the man who would prove to be France's greatest rocker-poet.

Read also | Strategy of hopelessness, a sublime lucidity

Such is the case of Pully-born actor Philippe Soltermann. The Vaud native discovered Thiéfaine at the age of twelve, when his friend Mario - «he was fun for a while; now he's an accountant for the State of Vaud» - listened to the album Any body connected to the mains is bound to be moved. The words of The elevator at 10:43 p.m. leave him stunned but curious about this deviant oddity. Philippe begs his friend Mario for the cassette and, for better or worse, catches the Thiéfaine virus.

A show about the relationship between fan and idol

Philippe Soltermann tells this story from the very beginning in his one-man show I'll be arriving by the 10:43pm elevator, with subtitles Chronicles of a Thiéfaine fan. The fan the actor plays is shown in his touching aspects, but also in his more excessive and ridiculous reversals, which don't correspond to the fan Philippe Soltermann really is. «In real life, I don't own a T-shirt bearing the singer's image,» he says after the show. That doesn't stop him from singing at the top of his lungs to the melody of The Joint Cutter's Daughter to bring Thiéfaine back to the stage,» notes Lorenzo Malaguerra, director of the Théâtre du Crochetan, with a touch of humor.

The two men worked together for a year to arrive at the final form of the play, with the one-man show allowing numerous rehearsals in short periods. «The work matured slowly,» explains the director. Philippe Soltermann was able to count on the support of the singer's own production company, who gave them carte blanche. «A lot of creations have been made about Thiéfaine without him being informed, whereas in our case, we asked the production company,» explains the actor. In fact, Hubert-Félix Thiéfaine himself appears in the acknowledgements section of the presentation pack distributed to the audience. Has he attended a performance? «Philippe Soltermann replies, »He will discover the play in the form of a video recording.

Between despair and general laughter

Lorenzo Malaguerra's staging is sober yet sombre. It follows the soloist as his energy evolves. The last part of the show, which gives way to Thiéfaine's music with a title live This exceptional performance gives the musical dimension a power it would not have had if it had been spread out over the entire play. The text, signed by the actor, oscillates between popular language and references to the singer's lyrics, to great comic effect. This is evidenced by a scene in which the character explains how difficult it is to place a Thiéfaine phrase in an everyday discussion, even though the phrase in question reflects the fan's state of mind. «How's it going? - How are you?, there's no longer a Berlin Wall to justify my shame.» A very funny moment in the play, with one zany example after another.

Another comic dimension of this one-man show is the blow dealt to journalists, who have long snubbed Hubert-Félix Thiéfaine until 2012, when he won two Victoires de la musique awards. Soltermann is highly critical of pseudo-musical journalists, who are more interested in «moi, je» than in real musical analysis. Some in the audience found the scene too long. Others enjoyed it, and I'm one of them. «It's funny, all the journalists tell me they loved it, because they recognize their colleagues, but it's never them!.

In this piece, humor rubs shoulders with spleen, a spleen very black, a spleen thiéfainien from start to finish. Yet Soltermann has his character say, «Thiéfaine is to me what dead Oedipus becomes: a protective God.» We asked the actor why it's reassuring to listen to a singer of melancholy and despair. «There is indeed this dimension of dark poetry in Thiéfaine, but we often forget that his work is also riddled with humor. Absurd humor, not «pie in the sky» humor, which transcends the everyday. The line “I'd gouge my eyes out, but I've already sold my body to science” makes me giggle, for example.»

A show for everyone

This kind of formula has the art of attracting a very wide audience. In the Salle du Crochetan, retirees, people in their forties and young adults gathered to enjoy this unusual kind of theater. «I saw a lot of people who don't usually come to shows, so they came for the play itself,» comments Lorenzo Malaguerra. «There are Thiéfaine fans, people who are simply curious; you can really find everything in the audience. And there's a network of venues that allows this kind of event to exist.» And it's not just the Valais that has turned out: «Tonight, some people have come from the north of France,» enthuses Philippe Soltermann.

By the way, did the director know Thiéfaine before working on this show? «It was when Philippe took me to one of his concerts that I really discovered him. It was then that I realized he was a top-class artist. Thiéfaine has an impressive precision, excellent musicians and a very committed musical style.» Philippe Soltermann agrees: «Thiéfaine's high standards are evident not only in his lyrics, but also in the arrangements of his songs. live or how to set up a show. That's also why it's lasted so long!»

Read also | Thiéfaine came, we saw him and we liked him.

The careers of the two gentlemen we met are also destined to last, judging by the work they presented to us. The main point of the evening: Hubert-Félix Thiéfaine's albums cannot be ranked in order of importance. Even so, wouldn't Soltermann have one that he prefers? «The next one that comes out.» We can only agree with him, for if this album follows in the footsteps of the previous two, Lie supplements and Strategy of hopelessness, there's plenty to celebrate. Ad orgasmum aeternum.

Jonas Follonier is the founder and editor-in-chief of the Regard Libre. Write to the author: jonas.follonier@leregardlibre.com