You're a bit of a UFO in the industry. How did the Voulez-Vous cabaret come about?
Laurent Desvaves - (laughs) The idea came from a group of friends, all with backgrounds in events and new technologies. Initially, in 2008, Voulez-Vous was an association that toured the Orléans region before settling in Ingré, in the Loiret region. We wanted to break with the codes of classic cabaret by mixing image technology with reality. We were the first to come up with the idea of using video mapping in a music hall show. Thanks to this approach, the spectator is totally immersed in the show... Our show is like us. It's young and contemporary.
Following the success of Voulez-Vous Orléans, you opened a second venue in Lyon last year. Are the shows the same?
L. D. - We run our shows in Orléans for three years before presenting them in Lyon. We are currently performing E-Motion in Lyon and Prophecy in Ingré. For Prophecy, I used cinema tools to create the sets, while calling on Gaël Perrin for the graphic design and production. For E-Motion, everything was created down to the last millimetre and orchestrated by computer. For these two shows, the artists perform on monumental video images, holograms, 3D images...
You're a long way from the classic image of a cabaret!
L. D. - The word cabaret is full of clichés, especially in the provinces. In people's imagination, the big Parisian locomotives come first and most people who open an establishment are inspired by them. But that's not our job! Our role is to create new shows. We're not a cabaret of the future, we're simply a cabaret of today!
Who are your customers?
L. D. - It has a workforce of 70 %, a good proportion of which are companies. Our aim is to be present just about everywhere in France, drawing on our expertise and our cabaret in Ingré, which is our experimental laboratory!
Also in this dossier: Trend: cabaret rejuvenation
