For his second creation in residence at La Licorne, Simon Boudreault does it again with a comedy that juggles very current issues. “More and more, I like the theater that I write to be anchored in society, that it leads people to question themselves,” agrees the author. Or that he shakes the cage a bit. I find it very stimulating to do that. Even if it’s an explosive subject like here. But I like to skate on these slippery surfaces. “
I am a product emanates from the observation, which has inhabited him for several years, according to which social media have exacerbated our relationship with the image. “I find it democratized marketing: everyone has become a marketer on their own. Depending on what there is [publie] or even what we are going to share or liker, we control how others perceive us. “
The text also emerged from his discussions with actress Houda Rihani, who was coach Moroccan Arabic in his previous piece, How i became a muslim. This actress very recognized in the Arab world, established in Quebec for 10 years and who obtains a first role on our stages, spoke about the difficulties that she encountered to work here. Simon Boudreault had the idea of a character of Moroccan origin who, following some comments at the employment center, resolves to put on a veil for a job interview in order to “look more Arabic ”.
Here is Jihane hired by a marketing company, very happy to give himself an image of openness and diversity. Its supercharged president (Eric Bernier) will even require Jihane’s talents to win back his ex, as if the romantic relationship were a product – “and there are a lot of parallels to be made”. The marketing team will also have to imagine a campaign to save the image of the ex-lover, an entrepreneur (“kind of long-toothed dragon”) who told a racist joke on a television show. “And the other characters are confronted with their relationship to the image in private. In short, I play on it in a lot of ways. I play around with it to create a comedy. “
The author has read a lot on marketing in order to know the basics, the way of speaking, the techniques to create a feeling of attachment in the consumer. “Big companies now don’t even sell products. They sell a philosophy, ”he recalls. Marketing has invaded everything from politics, “undeniably”, to our private lives.
Simon Boudreault also wanted to show the dichotomy that sometimes exists between what we are and our representation on social networks. The show he is directing will display publications of the characters, including certain messages in which “plated positivism” swears with the moments of disarray they experience. “What I want is to get people thinking, so [tendre] a mirror to the spectators on what we do. What I myself do! I am not a lesson giver. I prefer to bring things to light. “
The performers contributed a lot to the construction of the piece. This is one of the first times the playwright has worked with comedians in the process of writing. “I don’t know if the pandemic destabilized me, but I had a hard time writing. At the beginning, I had three scenes. He therefore invited five performers to participate in a writing workshop by Zoom. Every month for a year and a half, they read and discussed the scenes he provided them. This made it possible to bring nuances to his ideas. “I’m not saying the characters are them. But their roles “suit them like a glove.” The creator likes how much it humanized the game. “The characters are really embodied because they’ve been in them for two years. “
What I want is to get people thinking, so [tendre] a mirror to the spectators on what we do. What I myself do! I am not a lesson giver. I like to highlight things better.
Nuances
Simon Boudreault therefore dares to touch on the subject of the hijab, which is rather thorny in Quebec. “But at the same time, does the character take a stand? he retorts. I tried to make it nuanced. I do not have the impression of being in the process of making the trial of the veil, points for or against. Jihane finds himself stating both points of view. She positions herself against it personally, “but afterwards, she is obliged to defend him” to others. Through the opportunism of the marketing company which uses its veiled employee and “instrumentalizes this action of integration”, the playwright found it especially interesting to “highlight this human flaw of instrumentalizing everything”. The discussion around the hijab will also have an unexpected twist in the room, a ” twist Which sheds light on it differently.
I am a product also challenges prejudices. Jihane is seen tailoring her responses in various attempts to match the expectations of her coworkers, the cliché image they have of a woman like her. “She formats her story. What is the story we want to hear about the veiled Muslim? The story that makes people feel good? What I liked about it was the idea of the lack of nuance. We like when it’s clear, when [les individus] fit into a box: she wears the veil, so inevitably, it’s that kind of personality … But we humans are not clear, we are rather complex. And all of the characters, to some degree, come up against a point where others see them in a frame, and when they come out of it, they don’t care. “
This complexity means that Jihane, ultimately, will not escape the ambient opportunism of this environment where everyone uses a little everyone. An epilogue that we will obviously not reveal to you. “I had sent the text to Michel Nadeau [directeur artistique du Théâtre] de la Bordée and he told me – I thought it was super fair -: the end is confronting, because we realize that we would have wanted Jihane to be perfect, pure. We would also have liked to format it. Then we realize that well no, it is a human like the others. But I really like that ending, because I find it surprising and shocking, up to a point: that’s not necessarily where we would have wanted the play to go. “
The author ofAs Is likes to use comedy to tackle loaded themes. “Laughing at that, even if it’s squeaky, makes us feel good, I think.” I can’t wait to see the public’s reactions. This is one of the times that I have no idea how the part is going to be received. He wonders especially about the way in which the laughter will be modulated in the face of these subjects. “There are scenes which, I know, border on burlesque. “
But Simon Boudreault doesn’t just make people laugh. How i became a muslim had reached a very diverse audience during its revival, which was one of the author’s original wishes. And of the imam of the mosque of Quebec – during the passage of the production in the Old Capital – who saw there for his community a spectacle “helping to understand Quebec” to the young spectator who recognized her reality as an immigrant of second generation, the creator collected many testimonials which touched him a lot. “It gives meaning to what we do. “