After a brief stint at Usine C in 2021, Sophie Cadieux resumes the necklace for the solo Feminist for Men. A squeaky and daring show, but whose scope is diminished by an excess of… Zumba.
In this text written by the French Noémie de Lattre, brilliantly prepared with Quebec sauce by Rébecca Déraspe, Sophie Cadieux addresses the thousand and one facets of the status of women.
The replicas fuse at great speed and make arrow of any wood. Abortion rights, female sexuality, obstetrical violence, mental stress, the twists and turns of anatomy and the dictates of beauty… All the subjects come through, superbly driven by the contagious energy of Sophie Cadieux, her sense of repartee and his well-honed self-mockery.
His charge against the ineptitude of March 8, International Women’s Day, is particularly enjoyable. The collective middle finger sent to US states that restrict abortion rights is purely cathartic. And when the actress exults in front of the astonishing properties of the clitoris, one cannot help but applaud this “beautiful gift of life” given to women!
Better still, we laugh, we rage and we cringe when we see her crushing with perfect ferocity the clichés that have stuck with feminists for too long.
For the staging of this stand-up theatrical solo, Alix Dufresne chose a very (too) physical approach. Indeed, Sophie Cadieux explains at the start of the show that when the feminist in her needs to ventilate, she launches into frenetic movements of Zumba, a particularly aerobic dance-exercise. The process is used extensively, so the actress spends much of the solo performing cardio exercises in high heels.
Certainly, the performance of Sophie Cadieux commands admiration. It already takes guts and a lot of confidence to defend feminism alone on stage for an hour and a half; imagine if you also have to do it by doing push-ups! However, the text is poorly served by this choreographic overflow. There is so much information to assimilate, so many injustices to name and ironies to seize in this show conducted at a beating pace: a little silence and slowness would undoubtedly have made it possible to better measure the humor and above all the relevance of the text. As proof: the very moving finale, which unfolds in a relative economy of gestures.
A final word on the title Feminist for Men, unnecessarily provocative, but the production could not be changed for copyright reasons. He is misleading. No, this show is not a lesson in feminism for dummies (read here men.) It’s a “survival guide” (as the subtitle suggests) filled with benevolence and not preachy for two pennies . This show, which will travel all over Quebec in the coming months, is for everyone: women, men, young and old…
All humans who dream of more equality will find something to laugh about (often yellow) and above all, to think about what unites us rather than what keeps us apart.
Feminist for Men
Text by Noémie de Lattre, adapted by Rébecca Déraspe
Directed by Alix Dufresne
With Sophie Cadieux
At Factory Cuntil January 21, then on tour across Quebec