Chocolate Nigger Clown

Sometimes, the « Belle Époque » does not appear to be so well named… Especially when it becomes crazy about a circus show in which a white man subjects a black man to his every whim. In those days, it was normal to laugh at the white clown Foottit as he humiliated the grand Chocolat, (his partner in the act who was black), as he pleased. Samuel Beckett was not mistaken. he who was to be inspired by duetists and thus denounce the violent relationship between master and slave , and he used them as a model for the creation of Lucky and Pozzo in his play “Waiting for Godot”. With « Chocolat Nigger Clown », Marcel Bozonnet pays hommage to the suprising destiny of Chocolat, the first black clown whose real name was Rafael de Leïos. This man who dreamt of becoming an actor of theatre was born a slave in Cuba and had been bought at the age of 11 by a rich Portuguese gentleman before arriving in Paris where Foottit hired him for his show at the New Circus. Marcel Bozonnet has brought together five performers from the world of dance, theatre and the circus to create a nomadic style of show which is accessible to everyone and can be taken into schools and colleges as well as it is produced in a theatre.