After leaving two shows semi-recently feeling lukewarm I began to question whether it was me who was not with it.
Then a friend called me up and proposed check out the new play by Guillaume Corbeil.
Ummm...ok! Third time's a charm right?
The play in question was Théàtre Pàp's Cinq visages pour Camille Brunelle directed by Claude Poissant at Espace Go. I walked in with ZERO knowledge of the play, I didn't look it up, and I just shot a glance at the Vertigo-esque playbill. The stage was covered in carefully laid out clothing and the backdrop was several large screens waiting for their projected images. And then it started.
Five attractive people step in front of the stage, they are twenty or thirty-somethings and begin to introduce themselves, in a rapid monotone, grocery lists of likes, dislikes, movies watched, music listened to, personal style, and what they would do if they had 5000$ to blow.
And on it went, with Geodezik's projections of flash photography that (hyper) documented a night out-complete with selfies, clubs, bars, parties and one trendy vernissage. Each character creating their social media identity from pop culture references, how many people they know and how to outdo the next person. One of my faves (I'm paraphrasing):
person 1: I saw Funny Games
everyone: Ohhhhh!
person 2: I saw Funny Games (beat) in German
everyone: Ohhhhh!
That's the set-up and it takes several interesting directions that lift it from merely becoming a surface piece. I'm sure you could guess by now that I loved the play. As we were leaving I overheard a reaction from another theater-goer expressing that one had to be on Facebook to understand the drive of the piece and that she also did not understand why the actors were not expressing emotions. While yes, the starting point to this piece lies within social media, but there is also (always?!) a larger picture. I found this person's review dismissive, lacking the awareness that we all participate in -whether or not it is on the internet- the creation and the definition of one's self identity through external signifiers.
That's in my own humble opinion of course.
Are you wondering why I thought the monotone was great?
Feel free to express your interpretation!
The show runs for another three days!
But it's sold out...
(keep your eyes peeled on Théàtre Pàp and hope they'll remount the show)
