Thomas Poitevin lives a "fairy tale" thanks to wigs and Instagram

• On his Instagram account "Les Perruques de Thomas", created in early 2020, Thomas Poitevin posts sketches in which he embodies characters surprised in their daily lives.

• Thanks to the first confinement, the actor saw his audience soar.

  The Sénart theater offered him to adapt his concept to a play.

• Until the end of November, he is playing at the Théâtre du Rond-Point in Paris with 

  Thomas playing his wigs

  .

  He will then go on tour in France.

Caro, the lunar bachelor and her unique worldview. Daniel, the grandpa pudding incapable of remembering his son-in-law's first name. Hélène, the bourgeois on the verge of a nervous breakdown behind her good manners. Laurence in constant battle with the vagaries of the theatrical program ... Upon reading these brief descriptions, the faithful of the Instagram account "Les Perruques de Thomas" will instantly recognize some of the key characters in this irresistible gallery of humorous portraits. The one who gave them life, Thomas Poitevin, now makes them evolve on the stage, in

, on display at the Théâtre du Rond-Point, in Paris, until the end of November, before going on tour in France.

The actor, whom

met on the terrace of a café in the Place de la République, said that he saw “a fairy tale” and that he “hallucinated” what happened to him.

His show was born out of a happy combination of circumstances.

"That 200 people come to my page and talk to me, it was galvanizing"

At the beginning of January 2020, the 41-year-old artist plans to withdraw from the stage, wishes to devote himself to writing and dreams of making films. “I still wanted to keep a space to act. I then created an account on Instagram, telling myself that a few people would see me. At the start, the project was to get people's opinions on what I do, to have an open stage and feedback on the writing, ”he says. He then decides to post pastilles in the continuity of his only on stage of 2017 in which he played a gallery of characters. “We had to find a common thread and wigs have become obvious. As it is a question of filming oneself in close-up, it completely changes the morphology of the face, it is very interesting ”, he notes.

Barely three months after the launch of “Thomas Wigs”, the Covid pandemic brought France to a halt. A new audience eager to change their mind then discovers the humorous account by chance or through word of mouth. “I felt the thrill very quickly. It was not immediately thousands of people but, already, that there are 200 people who come on my page and speak to me, it was galvanizing and joyful, remembers Thomas Poitevin. I had a great confinement thanks to that. I was coming out of isolation, I was talking to Internet users who were giving feedback on the videos. After that, it snowballed in stages and I saw the thing grow. My very first subscribers, I don't know them in life, but I do know their names and I have them in mind. "

His fans - the counter is approaching 75,000 in this month of November - change their minds with these humorous sweets of a handful of minutes, centered on a character surprised in a daily situation.

“I like to start from the caricature and add tragic or something moving, even if it's just a sentence, to humanize the character.

In life, if we observe people in a detail, we realize that they have a story, suffering, desires, ”explains the actor.

"It often starts from a mood, from a sentence, from someone I saw in the street"

The one who found his influences from (Muriel Robin, Les Inconnus, Les Nuls, Palace, Philippe Khorsand, Valérie Lemercier, Jean-Pierre Bacri ...) and others from the Channel (

, French and Saunders, Catherine Tate) has a keen eye for observation. “It often comes from a mood, a sentence, someone I saw in the street and who had a little something strange, he lists. It inspires me to create a few lines and a little story pops up. "

At the end of the first confinement, the Sénart theater (Seine-et-Marne) contacted him to offer him a theatrical adaptation of his wig sketches. The idea gained ground and materialized without falling into simple copy and paste. “These are not video clips at the theater, we wanted to

theater. Some texts work in close-up on Instagram but not necessarily on stage. It's a whole different scale, ”underlines Thomas Poitevin, who got down to writing with Hélène François.

During the first performances, he discovers that his audience is found in all age groups.

“I had whole venues that didn't know what I was doing on the internet and the show worked really well with them, it was wonderful.

"The actor and author, who describes himself as" very anguished "and" monomaniac ", abandoned his Instagram account as his play monopolized him.

But he promises to continue to feed it, assures to have new ideas.

He insists: “I don't want to stop, it's a place of comfort for me, very happy.

A place where he can do as he pleases.

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Where to see it?

Thomas plays his wigs

is on view at the Théâtre du Rond-Point (Paris 8th) until November 23 at 8:30 p.m.

Then from November 24 to 28 at 6.30 p.m.

Not on Mondays and November 11.

Thomas Poitevin already has several dates planned throughout France until April 2022. He will for example be at L'Azimut d'Antony / Châtenay-Malabry on December 1st, at the Charlie-Chaplin Cultural Center in Vaulx- en-Velin on January 27, at the Maison de la culture d'Amiens from March 14 to 16…

• Culture

• Paris

• Spectacle

• Instagram

• Humor

• Theater

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