On the one hand, there is this barber who, getting ready to put his teeth on a loaf just out of the oven, discovers a nose on it. His wife, the cantankerous baker, orders him to get rid of this thing while summoning him to stop putting his “nose in his business”. On the other, there is Mr. Pierre, a literature professor, who lost this essential organ, just after meeting the love of his life. What follows is a mad dash during which the professor goes out of his way to find his nose.
Philippe Robert, as a skilful storyteller, replays Nicolas Gogol’s short story in his own way, freely and with finesse adapting this story published in 1836. In a series of puns and expressions surrounding the olfactory organ, the text transports us to a crazy universe, a city populated by energetic characters, each more intense and wacky than the next. The five actors share different roles, that of Monsieur Pierre shines thanks to Ismaïl Zourhlal, who reveals himself with naturalness and ease, Doriane Lens-Pitt, as a submissive barber, takes on without batting an eyelid that of a nurse stuck in a system that is beyond her. . Caroline Tosti takes on the role of Anna and a fake journalist, Charlie Monty, sweet lover, passionate about literature can also become a “doctor of the homeless”. Last but not least, Pierre-Luc Giroux strongly portrays eight roles, including that of the baker, Anastasia, the Italian, master of masks, and the nose, Monsieur Hic. This imposing nose, wearing a bowler hat and carrying a cane – a highlight of the show – was able to make the little ones gathered in the Parc des Faubourgs, very close to the Jacques-Cartier bridge, react.
beyond the absurd
Robert’s text is a series of dialogues rich in meaning which, under a light and absurd exterior, easily accessible to the first degree, knows how to resonate with the adult public. Beyond the many puns, the author and director puts the play in the news by skillfully exposing some of our society’s failings. The experience of Mr. Pierre trying to find a doctor to solve his problem is glaringly true when he comes up against the heaviness of the system. An orphan patient, he cannot find a family doctor, but he will easily find a much less popular “doctor for the familyless”. You had to think about it.
In a setting that is still just as minimalist, showing sets with a few boxes that are moved, reused in different functions, the ingenious staging marries the madness contained in the text. Music, singing and even a few tap dance steps punctuate the paintings carried by exuberant characters, dressed in colorful costumes that attract attention. Philippe Robert offers as a bonus various winks, in particular to Réjean Ducharme and his Nose that evokes, to Cyrano de Bergerac and his legendary tirade about the nose and its ugliness. In a somewhat clownish approach, the author and director thus manages to offer a proposal that is both exploded – pleasant for the eye and the ear – and profound.