“The television industry is a world of sharks! “, has already entrusted us a famous author. It’s not Jason Sherman who will tell you otherwise.
In the 1990s, this Toronto-born Montrealer was a star playwright in Canada. Before being caught up in the big bucks of television, and returning to the theater two decades later… With the impression of having sold his soul to the devil.
It is this harrowing experience in the world of television that Ten four (Copy That). His play, created at the Tarragon Theater in Toronto in 2019, is currently being produced at La Licorne, in an excellent translation by Jean-Marc Dalpé, and under the skilful direction of Didier Lucien.
Four screenwriters are gathered in an office to develop a detective series for a producer in search of a (very) big success for her box. The pressure is strong. The deadline for delivering the series to the broadcaster is fast approaching. However, one fine morning, on arriving at work, a member of the team, Colin, said he had been the victim of racial profiling by two police officers. He wants to seek compensation from the police. And above all, he thinks of drawing inspiration from his arrest to build the plot of the series. To the great misfortune of the production.
The medium is the message
SUZANE O’NEIL/SUPPLIED BY MANUFACTURE THEATER
ten four : Alexandre Fortin, Laura Amar, Irdens Exantus and Norman Helms.
ten four is a piece with many breaks in tone. A satirical comedy behind the scenes of television and a serious work that addresses social issues: racial profiling, systemic racism, police brutality, sexism in the workplace. The first part is much more comical and rhythmic than the second. The numerous ruptures and other reversals transform the comedy into a drama, then into a thriller. A neat thriller that illustrates that the medium is always the message (Sherman likes McLuhan).
In a setting in the form of a large panoramic screen, the characters engage in brainstorming sessions for almost two hours. We follow the creative process of the screenwriters, their tough negotiations with their producer and manipulation expert (Marie-Hélène Thibault). The talented actress has all the skills needed to make both laughable and believable this upstart boss with no instincts.
Our stories
From now on, the question of social commitment in a work of fiction preoccupies the craftsmen of the theatre, like those of television and cinema. Can we make entertainment without thinking about the consequences of the story that we expose on the screen? Can we write a series “about good policemen who save the widow and the orphan”, without taking into account the abuses of the forces of order on marginalized populations? Peter, the main writer of the series, an experienced but bitter “showrunner” (here brilliantly played by Norman Helms!), thinks so. Until the day when reality explodes in his face.
“It’s all we have in life, our stories,” says Colin, in a very moving scene played by the very fair Irdens Exantus. With his caustic and critical look at the entertainment industry, Jason Sherman (through the character of Colin) makes us aware of our privileges and our biases. Without judgment or morality. A reflection which, finally, excuses the few clumsiness of his text, such as the abrupt breaks and reversals, and some lengths.
ten four
With Laura Amar, Irdens Exantus, Alexandre Fortin, Norman Helms and Marie-Hélène ThibaultOn view until February 25, at La Licorne.