“I am a country in search of achievement. And I only find thrifty and prudent people who fear the fox in the henhouse. » All the truculent poetry of Pierre Perrault is summed up in this line fromIn the heart of the rose, a piece of powerful poetry. A rare pearl in the Quebec repertoire that dangles the mirage of a people in the making.
On display at the Festival TransAmériques until Wednesday inclusive, in a new adaptation by director Jérémie Niel, the play has just been reissued by Lux. It is a fascinating work, but little staged in the theater since its creation 66 years ago. Before the current production, director Paul Blouin directed it on television, then Jean-Guy Sabourin on stage, in 1963; and closer to us, Denis Marleau staged it at the Rideau Vert in 2002.
The story takes place on an island in the middle of the river, around a family who watches over the lighthouse. This family seems more lost and isolated than their island. There are three of them: the Daughter (Nahéma Ricci, captivating), the Father (Sébastien Ricard, who plays with quiet strength) and the Mother (Evelyne de la Chenelière, moving).
There is also the Boiteux (excellent Émile Schneider) who collects birds’ eggs on the shore to give them to the family. The Father would like to marry him to his daughter… But she only dreams of escaping the boredom and the yoke of those close to her. She will end up falling in love with a young sailor, son of the captain of a ship that ran aground during the storm (respectively played by Marine Johnson and Marco Poulin). Now a second storm, internal and stronger, will fall on this family.
PHOTO FABRICE GAËTAN, PROVIDED BY THE FTA
Nahéma Ricci, Évelyne de la Chenelière and Sébastien Ricard.
Night and Fog
Creator obsessed with the unsaid and the fog of the soul, Jérémie Niel found a black diamond in this mysterious fable about the relationships between men and women, the quest for the country, the impatience of youth, the resignation of their ancestors … For better and for worse.
His production is very formal, aesthetic, even austere. Niel and his team dove deep into the dark areas of the human psyche. Its staging is based on very rich, omnipresent sound and visual environments. The paintings are interspersed with long blacks. The actors perform with headset microphones. After a slow, disembodied start, the performance of the performers and Perrault’s poetic language take off in the second act. And a little light emerges with the arrival of the sailor and his son, the day after the storm.
Careful work
This aesthetic bias works well, thanks to the careful work of the designers: the lighting by Cédric Delorme-Bouchard, the projections by Karl Lemieux, the soundtrack by Sylvain Bellemare and Ariane Lamarre. Which contributes to making this spectacle sensory, but a little cold. However, we have the impression that the director overuses his strong and beautiful, but very placed, images. It’s also frustrating to see the actors often play in the dark, in the mist, from behind or behind the scenes.
In short, this is a beautiful, but demanding proposition; and which constitutes the centerpiece of the Quebec component at the FTA this year.
Consult the program of the Festival TransAmériques
In the heart of the rose (Genealogy of a sadness)
Jérémie Niel and Pierre Perrault
Free Space, as part of the FTAUntil May 29