Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette and Émile Proulx-Cloutier feel like they’ve come full circle these days. Not only because they are about to unveil Not losta show that was originally to be presented at the Center du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui in May 2020, but also because they are about to give a final part to the triptych they embarked on in 2014, a cycle of documentaries stage started with real worlds and South Pole.
Transposing the human burden of documentary cinema on stage without going through the know-how of actresses and actors, as is often done in documentary theatre, here is the bet already twice won by the tandem. “At the very beginning, we constantly wondered if what we were trying to do was possible,” explains Proulx-Cloutier. A person, on the set, surrounded by objects that belong to him or that represent him, performs gestures of his daily life, thus escaping any idea of performance. Her voice springs from the loudspeakers in a pre-recorded interview where she gave herself to Anaïs. For many people to whom we try to summarize the process, it is still a little vague. »
Move forward by tightrope walker
It is certainly an experience that is lived much more than it is told. In this theatre-verité, a rare intimacy is woven between the stage and the auditorium. “It’s a demanding form, recognizes Barbeau-Lavalette, but which is at the same time magnificently vertiginous, because it offers a host of possibilities. “It’s always about adopting an angle,” says Proulx-Cloutier. Whether it’s with the lighting as well as with the words we retain, we make choices. By proceeding with the sound editing, we leave things aside, declarations which are sometimes crisp, but which do not find their place on the thread that we are trying to stretch. »
“It’s all the art of the documentary, completes Barbeau-Lavalette. It’s a question of advancing like a tightrope walker in their story, always going a little further, but without rushing them, so as to touch on true intimacy. There can be ten hours of interview behind a single scenic portrait, I don’t need to tell you that there is great mourning to be done. »
What sets this chapter apart from those that preceded it? “First, explains Proulx-Cloutier, we had more resources, so more rehearsal time. It allowed us to push the form, to give rise to more detailed distinct portraits, then to link them together by a red thread that we had time to let emerge. We won’t tell you what it is, because that would take away some of the fun, but there is something that unites these individuals, something that puts them in an overall picture. »
“I believe that there is a philosophical and social thought that can stand out more clearly from this show than from the previous ones, suggests Barbeau-Lavalette. The public will be more challenged, in the sense that it will be encouraged to ask questions, to reflect on itself and on the community to which it belongs. “We tried to unfold humanity on a stage, specifies Proulx-Cloutier, so that we can see it differently. If the show leads those in the room to look at reality differently, to observe it from this angle that gripped us, Anaïs and I, we will have achieved our objective. »
Hall of Lost causes
To find out who the eight participants are, Dominic, Élisabeth, Eva, Jérôme, Quentin, Réal, Sylvain and Yaëlle, you will have to meet them, engage in some way in the room of lost steps which inspired the title. of the show, this great building hall, this crossroads where solitudes intersect, where waiting is imposed, where time is suspended, where the most surprising encounters can occur. “Human matter is the most astonishing of all, the most dazzling, considers Barbeau-Lavalette. I would never manage to write, even with great effort and precision, a character as beautiful, as unpredictable as the one that reality can offer me. »
Regarding the selection of participants, Émile Proulx-Cloutier adds: “I am often asked: how do you manage to find such gems? Each time it amazes me. It’s as if we had become unaccustomed to considering people’s three-dimensionality. Of course, to achieve what beings have that is exceptional, you have to take the time, really listen, let the silence do its work, give the other the space to tell their story, not force anything out. When it comes to establishing this kind of relationship, this empathetic listening, this secure context, Anaïs does an exceptional job. I tip my hat to him. »
We tried to unfold humanity on a stage, so that we can show it differently. If the show leads those in the room to look at reality differently, to observe it from this angle that gripped us, Anaïs and I, we will have achieved our objective.
Two years later
Remember that when the pandemic broke out, Anaïs had finished conducting the interviews and Émile had finished editing the soundtrack. Two years later, when they have hardly changed anything, they are surprised by the disturbing resonances with the present. “We chose not to touch anything because we absolutely did not want to sprinkle the show with updates about the confinement of each person, admits Proulx-Cloutier. That said, it’s completely crazy to hear certain sentences and to see how eloquent they are given what we’ve been through for two years. I’m sure many will find it hard to believe that all of these sentences were uttered in 2018.”
Not lost addresses a host of themes, including memory, heritage, roots, transmission, language and mourning. After the ordeals we have recently gone through, and which we continue to go through, Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette also sees in the show “a call for joyful resistance”: “The individuals who are on stage are the tip of the iceberg. This is only a very small part of the many undoubtedly incredible lives that we deprive ourselves of, those that we have lost the habit of looking at on a daily basis, isolated as we are in our bubbles, on our islets. I hope the show will create possibilities, that people will leave the room wanting to go to each other. It seems to me that we thirst for that, that we need it more than ever. »