It is an ode to friendship that author Fanny Britt and director Alexia Bürger deliver with the play All thingswhich is imaginative at will, although too scattered.
These two creators dove into their 30-year-old camaraderie and passion for film Stand-by-Me to show the importance of friendship for the human soul at the Théâtre de Quat’Sous.
In this production with a strong autobiographical flavor, these two great friends are personified by the redhead, played by Kathleen Fortin, and the brunette, played by Sophie Cadieux. Alone on stage, these two actresses convey this unique bond with sensitivity.
It juxtaposes facts from the abundant imagination of Fanny Britt, who wrote this work. The spectator is thus exposed to explanations on subjects as diverse as the discovery of stress by Doctor Hans Selye in Montreal and the case of little Gregory, a child murdered in France in 1984. ‘donkey.
Back in the past
By evoking places like the Peel Pub in downtown Montreal, the first half of the show takes us through the real adolescence of the two creators. This intimacy is however interrupted by the multiple references to the film which tells the links which unite four boys who go in search of the body of a child of their age in Oregon.
Obviously, this 1986 feature film is part of the life of Fanny Britt and Alexia Bürger, who have seen it countless times together. And comparing the friendship that is told there to that experienced on stage is certainly ingenious.
However, in the end, the details of the film are sometimes boring and eat up time that could have been used to deepen the main characters. Same thing for the didactic asides on various subjects which prevent lifting the veil on the two protagonists.
Implicitly, very relevant questions are put on the table with great intelligence.
The multiplicity of details and cultural references make this show unique. But this density comes at the expense of a plot that is not surprising and which masks an emotion that such a deep friendship should have brought out more.
- All things is presented until May 14 at the Théâtre de Quat’Sous.
All things
★★★ 1⁄2
Directed by Alexia Bürger
- With Kathleen Fortin and Sophie Cadieux