Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette and Émile Proulx-Cloutier | In search of the human voice

“There is no film, no novel, no exhibition that can contain all the nuances of a life. Humanity cannot be tamed”, launches with one voice the talented couple of multidisciplinary artists, in an interview with The Press.

Luc Boulanger
The Press

After a delay of several months due to the pandemic, Not lost | scenic documentaries, the new creation by Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette and Émile Proulx-Cloutier, will finally be presented at the Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui next week. After real worlds in 2014, then South Pole in 2016, the couple offered a third show with “ordinary people telling extraordinary stories”. Anaïs is also part of the cast, while Émile directs.

Not lost is an original proposal that stems from their common passion for cinema-vérité and documentary theatre, as well as for portraiture and, of course, live performance. The device of their scenic documentaries (in the plural) is both simple and complex. It draws on research and interviews conducted across Quebec by the author of The leaky woman.

Unlike the two previous plays, there is not a common thread that immediately connects the eight characters of Not lost. Among the protagonists on stage, none is an actor. “They are simply people, living their own lives, performing familiar gestures, surrounded by objects that belong to them,” the couple explains. However, the more the show progresses, the more the public will discover links, echoes between their stories. »

open mic

To find these stories that are both dramatic and wonderful, Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette traveled thousands of kilometers of roads, all over Quebec. She met people with very different life backgrounds and backgrounds. She has recorded over 100 hours of interviews. The director didn’t want to film people, because she found the camera too intrusive, even intimidating. “The camera is an eye that scrutinizes you; the microphone is quickly forgotten”, she says, specifying that it was necessary to find “the fragile balance between intrusion and modesty”. To avoid falling into voyeurism.

After her harvest, the interviewer gave the audio material to her spouse. For several weeks, the latter did an enormous job of sound editing to retain an hour and forty-five minutes of testimonies that form the narrative framework of the play. The director has retained the stories of people who have an extraordinary life, but also a way of telling themselves that is very theatrical.

The couple also believe that the human voice, without the weight of the image, the limits of the frame on the screens, leaves more freedom to the interviewees. And more space for the viewer’s imagination. “When people are confident, then we can tap into the heart of their soul. It becomes a dialogue. A burst of laughter can arise in the midst of tragedy. But this process can only be done slowly. It’s years of work! “, they summarize.

“You know, people’s lives are never banal, believes Anaïs. There are many more extraordinary stories than you might think. Just take the time to stop to talk and listen to people’s stories. »

Knock down the walls

Émile Proulx-Cloutier adds that the problem with our society is that we want to lock everyone into little boxes. “It’s even worse after two years of the pandemic,” he said. When we go out to meet the other, when we get out of their close circle, it forces us to break down the walls. »

Like a hall of lost steps, name given to these large halls of buildings, in courthouses or train stations, where solitudes intersect while waiting for a departure, a sentence . “At the crossroads of destinies, this intertwining of small living documentaries will question our intimate and collective relationship to memory, language, mourning”, wishes the couple.

From March 8 to April 2 at the Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui