Born in 1962 in Alexandria (Egypt), Eric Bouvron of Franco-Greek origin grew up in South Africa. It is after all these years of sharing between these different cultures and meeting the Bushmen (Men of the bushes) that this talented comedian opens up under the tent of the Juan-les-Pins congress palace.
Nice Premium: Why such an attachment to the Bushman people?
Eric Bouvron: As I said during the show, I met the Bushmen when I was ten years old. I saw the way they moved and how, with nothing, they created a universe. Living in South Africa, I hadn’t been interested in all the ethnic groups around me. It wasn’t until I returned to France that I realized it wasn’t in Europe that I would find all the riches I was looking for. But it was rather at home, in Africa, where I lived.
The Bushmen always stayed in my head, it was a fascination. They were not part of the other Africans. They are a separate people. They are even a people who have been suffering genocide for 7 centuries. They were hunted like animals. They are not a warrior people. They don’t know how to defend themselves. They are gentle and live in harmony with nature. They are like the Native Americans, the Aborigines or the Inuits.
I wasn’t ready to address this subject until now. From now on I am ready to speak about this people.
NP: Where in Africa are the Bushmen located?
EB: They are scattered across 4 countries. Botswana, South Africa, Angola and Namibia. There are only 80,000 of them and barely 1,000 maintaining their way of life. They don’t need to be shaken by globalization. Some think the opposite, but no, we must let people be happy with the little they have.
NP: In your show, do you find that American culture is at the opposite end of their culture?
EB: Of course it’s a little wink, but the Americans made their own journey in their culture. So it’s not comparable. It’s a wink at the material world next to a Man who doesn’t know that. It makes a nice contrast.
NP: And today do you still live in South Africa?
EB: No, now I live in France. I go back to Africa when I can, but I am French, South African, without forgetting my roots, I need to find them again.
NP: What do you think of a show like “Journey to Unknown Lands”?
EB: The show where people go with celebrities? I’ll keep my comments to myself (smile). I find that… okay I’ll tell you them (laugh). I find that it’s mainly good publicity for the celebrity who goes there. Sometimes it doesn’t do justice. It sometimes shows the white person as superior to the ethnicity. When someone is going to say “hello,” “goodbye,” “thank you,” “thank you very much,” it becomes almost a bit pathetic to me. I’ll give an example: for the Bushmen, the word “thank you” doesn’t exist. They don’t need to be harassed by someone who is going to do a show to make a fortune and nice trips. It’s better to make trips and nice documentaries where you enter the lives of these people. You can do deeper things, you don’t need celebrities who know nothing about it. If it’s a personality making the effort because they know, yes, but if it’s just to send them on a trip to tell them “come on you’re going to travel”…
NP: You pay tribute to the Bushmen throughout your entire show. Why did you choose laughter to convey this message about their lives?
EB: Laughter is something I need inside. I make people laugh and I also love doing theater. With laughter you bring people into a world. Once they are seized by emotion, they will discover. There is laughter and at some point the laughter changes. Laughter is just an emotion that deepens the subject.
NP: A pedagogical way to get the message across to people?
EB: Even though I love pedagogy and I teach, I’m not trying to be either pedagogical or moralistic. I try to do a show that is first of all interesting. Because the show or the subject interests me, I think it will interest others. I’m just an artist, not a moralizer. If that’s the case, I’m wrong knowing that I don’t want to make a documentary either. It’s too easy to be moralistic when we ourselves have things to improve in our own lives. I won’t save the planet or the Bushmen but I’ll at least take a small step by saying that I am a man a little more dignified.
NP: Earlier you said “we” by identifying yourself as a Bushman, but you are Western and you also talked about it in your show regarding the white person who goes to see ethnicities. Is the fact that it’s a white person, a Westerner who speaks about the Bushmen an advantage or a disadvantage?
EB: What do you think? When you see a white person doing a little Bushman. I’m playing a role. What’s beautiful is that I didn’t know if the audience would enter the story. That’s what’s beautiful about theater. With nothing, with my skin, my hair, my eyes that are different, I think you still traveled in the skin of a Bushman. At that point you say “wow” and that’s the strength somewhere. I was fascinated by these people, the way they move, how they are, not being light, dynamic like them, but I tried!
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