Posted at 11:00 a.m.
You don’t understand anything about it? Normal. The exercise in style, limit vertiginous, is not simple. It is anything but linear. Basically broke. In short, arch-risky. Like life, somewhere. And what about love…
For the 20th anniversary of the IN K theater (co-founder of the Stables), Marilyn Perreault (co-founder) wanted to push the limits of creation by exploring here the theme of the couple, its longevity and, above all, its vulnerability, through a text written and staged (and in motion) by several hands (eight creators from here, France and Belgium sign texts and staging), all performed in a semi-controlled semi-disorder, on top of the market .
The result, or rather the results, is presented until November 12 in the small theater on rue Chabot. In case you doubted it, yes, each performance is likely to be unique.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
Marilyn Perreault and Annie Ranger, co-directors of the IN K theater, present these days an exercise in style around the couple in time (and its multiple directions).
You don’t understand anymore? Basically, the story, which tells the story of a couple (Clémentine and Philippe, played by six different actors) through different ages (from the first emotions to the last breaths, through infidelity, the departure of the children and other difficulties overcome), is not played in a predetermined order, but subject to the unexpected, halfway between the piece of which you are the hero, the special request to the DJ and the return to the future. Because yes, the spectators have their say in the course of the show, in short, lives are at stake here (even if it’s a game, need we remind you).
“I started from the principle that, in a lifetime, we are several people, several personalities. And that our personalities are modulated. And when you’re in love, the relationship is also modulated, ”explains Marilyn Perreault, the ideator of the project, in an interview. “Everything that happens in life will make our relationships different. Illness, children, conflict. Or not. In this order. Or not. A choice.
I wanted to take a look at what we are, what we have been, what we wanted to be. Because it is confronting!
Marilyn Perreault, co-artistic director of Théâtre INK
“Because the love life is made of balance sheets, flashbacks”, continues the one whose parents have just celebrated their 50 years of marriage, an anniversary certainly at the origin of her reflection. And the premise of the show: the long-time heterosexual couple, a postulate certainly a little out of step with current reality, which nevertheless allows us to take a look at the passage of time, the evolution of the couple, and its (its) direction (s).
“It was confronting for many of us to build a heterosexual history, at a time when all that is questioned”, adds Annie Ranger (co-artistic director of the IN K theater) and author of the first scene (but the is she really?) of the story. All of this led the creators to think about the notion of the couple, our ideals, and “what we are sold”, socially speaking, she slips.
people tell each other
Note that the story here is inspired by a hundred interviews, carried out during the pandemic by the INK theater team, as part of a mediation project. Young people, like many elderly people, spoke very “generously”. “People wanted to tell each other. And us, it does us good to tell something bright! These are great love stories! »
This is probably why the first time is so felt. And the last breaths, too. “There are things that I cannot invent, resumes Marilyn Perreault. People’s stories are more fabulous than I could write! »
No doubt also why the final result, as fragmented as it is, also promises to do good. Let it be said, this piece is not for cynics. “For the romantics? Or maybe the people who want to believe it? […] Because it’s beautiful, the life that evolves, and the life of a couple that evolves! An evolution over time, we will have understood, whatever it is too!
Duet in pieces is presented at the Aux Écuries theater until November 12.