The Tattooed Man

Pascal is completely tattooed, this is why he calls his stage show "L'Homme tatoue" which means: "the tattooed man".

Why are you completely tattooed? This question gets asked a thousand times at the start of his show. Pascal Tourain answers the question quite frankly, without restraint, emotion or humor. This one-man show is completely autobiographical and lasts for about an hour. His show captivates the audience and gives them a fascinating insight into the fascinating world of tattooing. Pascal tells all about his life, his questions, and his doubts and about his tattoos, all held togher with a good sense of humor.

He progressively reveals different areas of his skin and explains the significance of these tattoos during his show. This is a very original idea, and as far as we know it is the first time that this subject has been approached in such a way. 

The first showing of this spectacle took place on some months ago in a bar called “L’Ecume bar”, a typical French bar, located in the 20th district of Paris. This area of Paris has been untouched by the modern developers and still retains its authentic roots with lovely paved lanes and beutiful old buildings. 

This evening, “L’Ecume bar” is full, some customers are sitting down to a meal, others are simply drinking a beer or two, while Pascal prepared for his first show. 

After finishing his studies at college he tried out various types of work, taking on small jobs in order to pay for his theater lessons because he dreams of becoming an actor. He also took part in both tattoo conventions organized by Tin-Tin in Paris.

At the moment Pascal takes part in various films including an appearance in a famous television series entitled “Thierry la fronde” in 1967.

It was in 1995 that he decided to get his first tattoo but he had thought about it for several years and he never dared do it before as he wanted to become actor and he was worried that his tattoos would prevent him from obtaining film roles.

As he explains in his show, one day he was looking in a mirror and decided that he will never become a star of the cinema, so he decided to get his first tattoo on the top of his shoulder and entrusted his first tattoo work to the famous Tin-Tin. Three months later he returned to go under the needle of the tattooist for a second tattoo on the other shoulder. Curiously, the more he covered his body with tattoos, the more Pascal felt at home with himself in his new skin because he had some difficulties accepting his look before. He continued by covering his back with acts of a work entitled: “La temptation of Saint Antoine” by Martin Schongaver. 

On his stomach is a representation of an erotic engraving in black and white illustrating the Marquis de Sade. 

Up until now, his tattoos remained discrete in comparison with the others and nobody could suspect that under his T-shirt, hides some splendid drawings by Tin-Tin.

‘The most difficult decision was to get a tattoo on my forearm because from then on you start to expose your tattoos on ‘public skin’ in comparison with the others. It was about this time that I decided that I would not stop any more. The tattoos have started to take on a cinematic theme: my arms illustrate the film called Freaks, (the monstrous parade) by Tod Browning that was first shown in 1932. The film is about a circus where deformed people are being put on show.’ 

All the characters illustrated on Pascal’s legs replicate the advertising banners, which were hung on the top of the circus cabins to attract the public. These tattoos are extremely well done with some very bright colours and show some of the attractions like: the woman without head, the Siamese twins, the rubber man and the most tattooed woman in the world at that time, and so on…

Then, one day Pascal had an idea and decided to join together his two passions: tattooing and acting. So he decided to make a stage show using tattooing as his subject. 

Pascal is not a newcomer to treading the boards and he has already played in a show entitled (un mètre de pastis) (A meter of Pastis) (Pastis is a French alcohol, similar to Pernod that people like to drink in the south of France) and in 2002 another spectacle called: (pilier de bar) (Pillar of the bar or mainstay of the bar). His spectacle called l’Homme tatoué” (the tattooed man) was played every Monday for nine months before Pascal left to follow other projects. Perhaps he will take his show onto the real theater? 

For now he always goes to Tin-Tin’s studio to continue his tattoos because his work is not finished yet. If one looks closely you can still see a few centimeters of skin, which are not tattooed. Tin Tin is working on Pascal’s feet and it will be necessary to touch up some more of the older tattoos to add some more details to some. 

The l’Ecume-bar can be found at: 

7 Villa de l’hermitage, 75020 Paris  

Tel:0033 6 74 49 59 05