A theater of poetry, sensations and imagination. This is what playwright Gabriel Plante and director Félix-Antoine Boutin offer us with On the appearance of bones in the bodyone of the most deliciously original pieces of the 2022-2023 season.
The title of the piece is reminiscent of a scientific journal article. On the appearance of bones in the body launches, in fact, some theoretical tracks about the origins of humanity. At other times, the scenic proposal takes on the appearance of a show stand upthen tells a kind of road trip philosophical between the Center-South district and the Mojave desert.
In such a dramatic context, however, the story takes second place. We will summarize by saying that it is the exploration of an abyss, read Grand Canyon, which is hollowed out within a couple. The young woman (Lenore) flees to the desert with a homeless man from Place Émilie-Gamelin, nicknamed Not much. This one will witness the breakup and the existential quest of Lenore, who wishes to break all the bones of her body.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY PROSPERO THEATER
Gabriel-Antoine Roy and Amélie Dallaire
No trace of horror here since the young woman feels absolutely nothing, as what the pain is rather that of the soul. Not just of the character, but of everything that is alive and that has been crossed by the breaks and fractures since its appearance on Earth.
Implicitly, the main character thus analyzes the themes of past, present and future time, of the difference between selfishness and altruism or between form and object, of sexual identity and the evolution of the amoeba until to humans, among others.
Interpretation
In this millennial epic, the prodigious Amélie Dallaire interprets both the lover and the voice of the lover. Her performance recalls the superb she displayed last fall at Fred-Barry in a similar role, that ofA golden girl by Sebastian David. There would also be many parallels to be drawn between these two works which present universes that are self-sufficient, far from any realistic temptation.
Director Félix-Antoine Boutin swims like an embryo in amniotic fluid with this neo-absurd text.
His direction as an actor is flawlessly precise while remaining at the service of a certain mystery suggested by the narration. It uses mime and dance, beautiful scenography by Odile Gamache and the original soundtrack by Christophe Lamarche-Ledoux.
On the appearance of bones in the body message passes. The poetry of the text refers as much to the body as to the mind, suggesting that the human is as much the result of chance as of a possible determinism, of shocks than of fusion, of dust than of thoughts. Depending on the vagaries of chemistry and biology, we could therefore have appeared on the planet as a tree, stone or… ball!
As Daniel Lavoie sang so well, 40 years ago, with his magnificent album blue nirvana : “all that happens, somewhere in space, on a ball that rolls in infinity”.
On the appearance of bones in the body
Text by Gabriel Plante, directed by Félix-Antoine Boutin. With Amélie Dallaire and Gabriel-Antoine Roy.
At the Prospero TheaterUntil February 11