Edinburgh Fringe 2025
Couac… Physical Comedy
Compagnie du Plat pays!
Genre: Clown, Comedy, Physical Comedy
Venue: Doonstairs at Gilded Baloon Patter House
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Visually slick and playful, Couac… Physical Comedy is quietly sounding the alarm on the dangers of living a life ruled by an app. Couac is a wordless, one-man physical theatre show at the Edinburgh Fringe 2025, performed by Compagnie du Plat pays. The show centres on Jo, a man living in a highly connected future, controlled by Eve, an artificial intelligence server directing his every move. It explores themes around the relationship between nature, technology, and humanity. Presented with a blend of humour, clowning, and poetic storytelling, the show uses physical theatre and clown.
Review
Everyman, Jo, attempts to battle with and overcome the imposing social construct of being constantly connected and ranked. His nemesis is Eve and the Ekiü mobile app, an intrusive, ever-present piece of tech that pings, prods and pushes him towards conformity.
Sébastien Domogalla is our clown and protagonist. There is little doubt that he is crisp and skilled in performance, leading the small but appreciative audience through a number of Jo’s daily frustrations: shopping, traveling, socialising and of course, keeping on top of the demands of the app.
Jo’s exact goal feels a little fuzzy. Is he trying to win at the game of life as he knows it, escape it, or simply survive within it? Without that clarity, the stakes feel lower than they might. We sympathise, but we’re not entirely sure what victory would look like. That said, the journey is peppered with well-crafted vignettes and moments of clever, often absurd comedy; including in inability to get dressed in a logical manner, trouble with an automated door when laden with shopping and a running gag involving increasingly pointless and humorous app notifications for deals on shopping items such as banana cutter or underwear coolers.
The production values are excellent. There is a real quality to the set and props, and the gauze between the audience and the stage creates a projection screen upon which the increasingly ridiculous demands made by Eve to ensure Jo is being a ‘good citizen’ are placed. Music and sound are well placed within the aesthetic, complimenting the action. This creates a possibly intentional disconnect although it feels a shame to separate the performer in a one man show in this manner; particularly as much of clowning relies on having a close connection with and reacting to the audience.
Couac… Physical Comedy is a visual metaphor for the loneliness that comes from letting technology rule your life. Although billed as a comedy, it doubles as a bleak warning about sleepwalking into a society that accepts social ranking as normal.
