![[Eclairagiste de spectacle]](pics-20080430/warnfr.gif)
Francois-Eric Valentin
Man of Light
Valentin, the Electric Magician
The portrait of a painter whose pictures fade in the early morning...
After a Master of Arts in theater, he became a French language teacher, then an electrician at the Pinder-Jean-Richard circus. But when in 1974 he created his first lighting design for "Military Amant" by Goldoni, staged and directed by Etienne Catallan at the festival of Valréas, François-Eric Valentin understood he had found his vocation, his passion and his light. Since then, he has worked with:
- Theatre Directors: some famous such as Nicolas Bataille, René Jauneau, Goulchan Kervella, Michel Boy, Jacques Legré, Muriel Mayette, Xavier Lemaire, Francis Perrin, Oscar Sisto, and others, younger or less famous, whom he believes in strongly such as Anne-Marie Giraud, Sebastien Bernard, Jean Pierre Hane, Jean Paul Bazziconi, Lorenzo Jauneau or Christophe Botti...
But he is also been involved with:
- Sound and light, in Brittany (The Celtic Passion, Tristan and Yseult, The Fishers of Goémon), Gilles de Rais in his castle at Machecoul, his nightime performances of "Carrousel Militaire" at Saumur with the "Cadre Noir", or at Gap for the centenary of the cathedral. He is also the creator of the "Sons et Lumières" which can be seen in permenance at Fort Bertheaume, Brest, and which dominate the bay;
- Opera, Cosi Fan Tutte (staging by Coutance Guy), or The Magic Flute (the Sofia Opera), Anne de Bretagne, (opera by Pierrick Houdy, performed at Rennes)
- Various musical performances, Mozart's Journey to Prague, Nicolas Bataille, the performances of Schubert and Schumann Melanie Jackson, Beauty and the Beast, a rock opera written by Sylvain Meyniac (Brussels in November 1999) and since 1986 he has been responsible for all the delirious musicals performed by "Caramels Fous" (The latest being "the Gallant Turkeys", and "Sleeping Handsome").
His latest performances (since November 2007):
- Doubles, by and with Christophe and Stephane Botti
- At the Espace Comédia Paris.
- Spectacle Musset, A door must be open or closed,
- Directed by Isabelle Andréani, with the Aktéon, Paris
- Operation of the Holy Spirit, Michael Heim,
- Emplumés company, Point Virgule
- Henry VIII, by Shakespeare,
- Directed by Nathalie Hamel, in the Northwest Paris Theatre.
- Blaise, Carolina Darnay
- Directed by Rémi Préchac Gymnasium of the Paris Theatre.
- The Ogrelet, Suzanne Lebeau,
- Staging by Fabienne Margarita in the Préau Theatre, Vire
- UBU King adaptation Breton and staging Goulc'han Kervella,
- Company Ar Vro Bagan, Saint Pol, Leon
- La mise au not, Alexandre Duclos
- Staging by Leila Mogues, at the Manufacture des Abbesses
- The Dangerous Path, Michel Marc Bouchard
- Directed by Laurence Despezelle-Pérardel, manufacture des Abbesses.
- The night of Queens, Michael Heim
- Directed by Jean Pierre Rouvellat, Théâtre des Variétés.
- Love and Chance, Marivaux
- Directed by Xavier Lemaire, the New Theatre Mouffetard.
- The Dangerous Path, Michel Marc Bouchard
- Directed by Laurence Despezelle-Pérardel, manufacture des Abbesses.
- Concert at the map, Franz Xaver Kroetz
- Directed by Jordan Betswick, manufacture des Abbesses.
IN MAY 2007 FEV creates the "Collectif GIRES" (An independant group of assistants and lignting techniciens for the arts) composed of Frederick Poullain, Mikael Olliveiro and Pierre Daubigny, to allow the sharing of experiences, increased collaboration and a vehicle of reflection for their four parallel careers.
January 2008: A new first for FEV. He participates in the performance of the contemporary painter Michele Katz at the "Maison des Métallos" to create a shining light to dance over the painting "Nobody witnesses the witness," which at the same time relects over the spectators and casts colourful shadows onto the canvas itself.
Convinced that the creativity of light must be achieved with reflection, FEV leads many training courses on the creation of light designed to improve the appreciation of this profession by young assistants and theatre directors. FEV has also written two books recognized by the profession to help reinforce his ideas:
- LIGHT FOR THE SHOW and
- LIGHTING TECHNICIEN, A TEAM SPIRIT,
Respectively published by the Library Theatre in 1994 and 1999.
Eager to go further, he recently published with the collective GIRES,
- 36 QUESTIONS ABOUT THE LIGHT
Published in July 2007 (Éditions de la Traverse à Nice) and which presents 36 fondemental questions in an easy to read (although sometimes ironic manner...) on all matters relating to light and the lighting industry, but always with concrete references and examples of the lighting profession which is too recent to be well known.
But FEV has other strings to its bow:
- Actor-storyteller in 53 minutes for Amnesty International - a poetry recital where all proceeds are paid to a group of Amnesty International. (Musset, Nerval, Vian, Hugo, Brel and Barbara R. ..... Lamoureux ...) directed by John Paul Bazziconi and performed 16 times in Paris and various regions of France: Brittany, Champagne, Normandy, Mayenne…
- Another facet to this man of light - to relax and have some fun he doubles as a Paris museum guide helping and waiting for you to discover the light of painters through their paintings, which he calls his "Journey of Illumination, Light, and Lighting: Louvre, Orsay, Carnavalet…
- Not forgetting that he has a Theatre degree
- and that he is an established author in various fields including a BUNRAKU review:
- the art of Japanese puppet theater, a dissertation examining not only the musicians, singers, puppeteers and their puppets, but also the choice and form of their performance .... (With a preface by Nicolas Bataille)
- Two novels: Jeromes fourth trip through the forests:
- an eleven year old boy travels back through time to the origins of the world to find the meaning of colors that will cure his grandmother who is becaming progressively blind to red, blue, green.
- and Recover the light:
- how two boys by their inquisitiveness, their inventiveness and their generosity, find and return the colours to the Kingdom of the Fairies.
- A collection of short stories: How Orpheus Yerres finds her smile again
- stories in which various characters from the paintings hanging in the Musée d'Orsay come alive by night and how some refuse to go back into their canvasses the next morning: they find themselves mingling with the visitors... Stories from a poetic or amusing viewpoint offer a novel and unique approach to a better appreciation of the paintings from the Impressionist era.
- Three original theatre pieces: And the roses will become black (publisher la Traverse à Nice : Frequency Theatre number 36), There were violetes in the city… and Give them back the god they have lost.
- And three theatre adaptations, two from contemporary novels: The Light Passer (by Bernard Tirtiaux) and The absence of men (by Philippe Besson). The last from a Japanese classical piece: Double suicide in Sonezaki (by Chikamatsu Monzaemon, an 18th Century Japanese author)
CV: 
Création site Internet:
Netalapage
© photos:
Bruno Vallet + DR