In the beginning, there was nothing or almost nothing. Just a trivial assignment imposed by a disillusioned teacher on his 17-year-old students. But sometimes it doesn’t take much to light a fire that’s impossible to control.
The proof is made with The boy in the last rowa show presented at the opening of the season at La Licorne. Written by the Spaniard Juan Mayorga, this play with a stifling atmosphere tells the story of the troubled relationship that develops between Germain, a literature professor, and one of his students, named Claude.
Always sitting at the back of the class, discreet to the point of being almost invisible, Claude proves to be a formidable author, even when it comes to recounting his weekend in a few sentences. The problem: in order to write, Claude has taken it into his head to spy on the family of Raph, one of his classmates, with whom he becomes friends in order to observe him better.
This normal, almost banal family fascinates him. And his way of telling it fascinates his teacher in turn. Germain senses that there is something wrong with this intrusive approach, this emotional manipulation and this tone bordering on contempt. But he cannot help but see in this boy who is not like the others a writer in the making, whom he can shower with literary advice and titles of great novels to read.
Despite the explosive material he has in his hands, the master will push the student to go further and further in his approach. And no one will come out of it unscathed.
This text, both funny and anxiety-provoking, adapted for the cinema by François Ozon (under the title In the house), examines with great finesse the power of writing and creation. How far can we go in the name of art? Can the end (i.e. the creative act) justify the means?
The piece goes a step further by questioning the very usefulness of art, in a world where everything is bought, everything is consumed and everything is thrown away.
Juan Mayorga (translated here by Maryse Warda) plunges the viewer into an internal debate on the limits of what is acceptable. Without offering answers and without tying up the loose ends, the play directed by Marie-Josée Bastien and Christian Garon multiplies the perspectives to better destabilize those who watch it.
Because Claude (the formidable Vincent Paquette) changes face according to the interlocutors, manipulating everyone he approaches. Who is this boy in the last row really? What are his real motivations? When we think we understand the outline of the beast, it slips away in an aura of mystery… It’s up to each of us to find the answers to the (numerous) questions that arise.
The very effective staging, as well as the distressing music that accompanies certain scenes, suggests that all this can only end badly. The unease that first settles in the family while Claude intrudes will give way to even worse. It is not surprising that this play received praise from the public and critics when it was presented at the Théâtre Périscope in Quebec City in the winter of 2023.
PHOTO ÉMILIE DUMAIS, PROVIDED BY THE THEATRE PARKING LEVEL
In the room The boy in the last rowthe relationship between the student and the master will quickly take an unexpected turn.
In the role of Germain, Hugues Frenette is very accurate. We feel him swollen with pride in the face of the attention that the 17-year-old boy gives him, hoping to live vicariously through a career as a writer that he was unable to embrace, due to lack of talent. His fall will only be greater.
Alongside this brilliant duo is a very convincing cast to play Raph (Samuel Bouchard) and his family, as well as Jeanne (Lorraine Côté), Germain’s wife who runs a contemporary art gallery.
The literature professor despises everything his wife exposes, offering the audience a few tasty flights of fancy on the sometimes obscure prose that accompanies the works. However, while he preaches his literary theories or spits on the artistic commercialism of the visual arts, Germain does not realize the trap that Claude weaves before him…
Check out the part page
The boy in the last row
Text by Juan Mayorga. Directed by Marie-Josée Bastien and Christian Garon. With Hugues Frenette, Vincent Paquette and four performers.
Unicorn TheaterUntil September 14