Review of Clandestines | In a (chilling) dystopia near you

Two years is next to nothing, barely a comma in a nation’s history book. However, it is sometimes enough to upset the course of things… Clandestinesa chilling dystopia, is eloquent proof of this.

The action takes place in Montreal, in February 2025 (might as well say tomorrow). Two women come and go in a small kitchen that would be quite ordinary, if it weren’t for the stirrups placed at the end of the table. This is where Marie and Sylvia perform illegal abortions.

Because you see, doctors are more and more reluctant to perform the intervention. Militant anti-abortion movements are increasingly powerful. And a bill is about to be adopted to make it almost impossible to terminate a pregnancy beyond 24 weeks. Since Quebec is experiencing a serious demographic problem, all means are good to ensure that the pool of “paying workers” is renewed.

Women, who no longer know where to turn to end their pregnancy, are forced to choose hiding. And those who welcome them risk a lot…

Separated into two very distinct acts by tone and distribution, Clandestines is unquestionably one of the strongest texts written by the author duo Marie-Ève ​​Milot and Marie-Claude St-Laurent. If the play opens with an anxiety-provoking closed session, but at a fairly slow pace, it continues with a faster pace as the debate moves into the public square.

A fight

Here, the guilt-inducing rhetoric of some clashes with the ferocious desire for self-determination of others. The fight spares no one. And there are on the boards of the Center du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui blood-chilling remarks which cannot fail to recall what is going on with our neighbors to the South since the invalidation of the judgment Roe v. wadeon June 24th.

The piece is carried by a solid cast in which stand out in particular Sofia Blondin, Myriam LeBlanc, Alexandre Bergeron (sticky with cowardice and opportunism) and Diane Lavallée (as a terrifying anti-abortion activist hidden under the trappings of a loving grandmother) .

Note also the very solid performance of Nahéma Ricci, a mysterious figure who crosses the room and through whom misfortune happens. The young actress who conquered critics and audiences with her performance in the film Antigone lives here his baptism of the boards. She manages very well with a complex score, despite a little nervousness the night of the premiere. It’s a safe bet that she will gain in confidence as the performances progress.

In the staging, Marie-Ève ​​Milot chose a refined approach so that nothing unnecessary hinders the lines that rain down on stage for almost three hours, sometimes moving, sometimes terrifying. The text, cut in blood and flesh, does without artifice. Milot, however, had the wise idea of ​​using the services of choreographers Nicolas Archambault and Wynn Holmes to work on the actors’ movements, particularly in the second act.

Result: the gestures are precise, to the millimeter. Nothing borrowed or bombastic though. This choreographic approach is more reminiscent of the movements of pawns moving on a particularly slippery chessboard, where an implacable game is being played.

Because that’s what it’s about Clandestines : of an increasingly shady future for women, who cannot rest on the laurels of old struggles that they believed won.

Clandestines

Text by Marie-Claude St-Laurent and Marie-Ève ​​Milot, directed by Marie-Ève ​​Milot. With Nahéma Ricci, Diane Lavallée, Sofia Blondin and five other performers.

Until February 4 at the Center du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui

7.5/10