“It’s both very funny and very dark”, explains David Strasbourg about Radiant vermin, the play by Briton Philip Ridley that he is directing at La Petite Licorne these days. “It’s more and more strange and even a little fantastic, in other words, completely in line with what the Théâtre de la Marée haute has been doing since its beginnings. »
Fifteen years already that the High Tide has made us laugh and cringe at the same time. Without neglecting Quebec creation, Michel-Maxime Legault hit the mark by daring to program little-known satirical comedies, those of the British Steven Berkoff, the Frenchman Georges Michel, the Swiss Urs Widmer and the American Aaron Posner. A list to which is now added a cruel comedy by Philip Ridley created in Bristol in 2015 and here translated by Marie-Claude Verdier, who moreover introduced the text to David Strasbourg.
Reconnect with staging
After signing in 2016 the productions of Small crimes against humanity and Conversations with my penis, the actor David Strasbourg was eager to return to this function which fascinates him. It is for this reason in particular that he co-founded with Gabriel Morin, in 2019, the company Le Complexe.
The 31-year-old designer acknowledges that Radiant vermin, the first show he directed within the walls of La Licorne, is of particular importance. “It’s a decisive step for me, because it’s my first staging in an institutional theater, and moreover in a house that I respect a lot. I confess that I would not hate to have the approval of my peers. »
To do this, Strasbourg feels that it has found the ideal text: “I wanted strong characters, who give material to the performers, unusual situations that switch from comedy to tragedy in a snap of the fingers, and questions of society which are very current. With this piece by Philip Ridley, whose Vincent River and pitchfork disney have already been mounted Quat’Sous, the director is served with regard to contemporary issues: soaring real estate prices, gentrification, renovations, socio-economic inequalities, overconsumption, pursuit of comfort at all costs…
“The piece is more current than ever, recognizes Strasbourg, even more than in November 2020, when it was originally supposed to be presented. We have nevertheless worked to universalize it by removing all British geographical or cultural references. We also lightened the Judeo-Christian dimension, which was a bit heavy, and the heteronormativity, which seemed dated. The result is a real uppercut, an unstoppable crescendo, a totally relentless dramatic curve where you laugh a lot, but feel more and more guilty for doing it.
A dream house
Camped by Anne-Marie Binette and Michel-Maxime Legault, Julie and Oli hope to raise their child, still unborn, somewhere other than in their hovel, but they do not have the means. Until the day when the enigmatic Miss Dee (Sylvie Moreau) comes to announce to them that they have been chosen to participate in an astonishing home ownership program. Their house in an underprivileged neighborhood will be free (!), but the major renovations they will have to carry out, using the famous “radiant vermin”, will have a terrible cost. We practice here a dark humor that authors like Étienne Lepage and Jean-Philippe Baril Guérard would certainly not deny.
With Cédric Delorme-Bouchard (scenography and lighting), Olivia Pia Audet (costumes) and Yannick St-Jean (video), the director dared the empty stage: “To evoke ultramodern condos, to represent success, we chosen to bet on highly significant details, elements that have a symbolic force that I let you discover. »
With Natacha Filiatrault, movement advisor, Strasbourg has ensured that the body of performers contributes to establishing a convention: “It is through their gestures and their presence that they make us travel from one place to another, from one time frame to another. In a way, we are attending a conference where the fourth wall does not exist, a session during which they try to sell us, by not quite traditional means, a dream house. The characters are both in the present, with us, and in the story of what they experienced in the not very distant past. »
Doing vocal overs for many shows like Renovation Angels Where Unite to Praise, David Strasbourg was inspired by the recurrences of this kind of reality TV: “In these somewhat absurd shows, where people are often unable to pay the taxes or the insurance of the houses with which they are abandoned, there is a tone, a way, a choice of words, intonations and music, a host of codes that have served us a lot, Cédric Flagothier and me, in the development of the sound signature of the show. »
This desire to buy, to own, to be the owner of a piece of land, a condo or a house, David Strasbourg considers that it is sometimes given disproportionate importance: “I do not pass judgment , I am the owner myself, but you have to admit that some people give too much meaning to this gesture. »
It is true that this is not in itself a proof of success or accomplishment. “We don’t bring anything to our society by becoming an owner,” explains the director. Ultimately, this even harms the quality of life of individuals in precarious situations who see their apartments disappear to be transformed into overpriced condos. This is a situation that I find very worrying. »