After The employees last season at Prospero, Cédric Delorme-Bouchard continued his approach to stage writing around futuristic universes, driven by a very innovative aesthetic.
For his brand new project as a director, the designer looks at the “first science fiction novel queer published in Chinese language », signed by the Taiwanese writer Chi Ta-wei. A bold choice, considering that the genre is rarely staged in the theater.
Adapted by the author Rébecca Déraspe, Membrane is presented on the Prospero stage and features six actors: Larissa Corriveau (who plays the main role), Ines Talbi, Sébastien René, Pascale Drevillon, Marie-Christine Lé-Huu and Evelyne de la Chenelière. The show focuses on the question of what defines the human being and its increasingly blurred existence.
In 2135, in a world nestled at the bottom of the sea, Momo is about to see her mother again for the first time in 20 years, on her 30th birthday.e birthday. A reunion that will shed light on her past and turn her life upside down, reminding her that she contracted a virus as a child forcing her to live in isolation, in a sanitized bubble. Since then, Momo has become a sought-after beautician, the only one to offer prodigious and mysterious invisible membranes that protect the skin and magnify existence. But is this really his destiny? Where are the true boundaries of identity?
PHOTO MAXIM PARÉ FORTIN, PROVIDED BY PROSPERO
Larissa Corriveau in Membrane to Prospero
Supported by magnificent scenography and lighting, and a captivating soundscape, the production is overall very accomplished. However, this show is aimed more at Cartesians or fans of dystopia and anticipation stories. The dreamer in me found the time long…
Certainly, the proposal addresses current themes – artificial intelligence, organ transplantation, the rights of LGBTQ+ communities, the ecological emergency, etc. –, but its form is confusing, and its interpretation, uneven. If Larissa Corriveau, in the skin of Momo, and Sébastien René, in the role of her “second” Andy, are very good and very funny, the chorus of the three sirens is sometimes dissonant. The mother (Evelyne de la Chenelière) arrives late, but with great panache. But the actress seems to be playing in a tragedy rather than a dystopia.
Membrane
Director: Cédric Delorme-Bouchard. Adaptation: Rébecca Déraspe. Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes.
At Prospero, until February 10.At la Nouvelle-Scène in Ottawa, from February 22 to 24.