Who likes to be well punished? Do we tease those we love? Patricia Paquin and Mathieu Gratton prove the most tender adages in their second duo show, The EXseparables.
You have to believe that the famous exes (20 years of separation this year, champagne!) still have a bit of affection for each other, to hug each other, or even to bitch cheerfully, as they do on stage. From the amount of jokes they send each other, there is no possible doubt: Patricia and Mathieu really like each other!
There aren’t many of their respective weak points that escape the sharp, mocking eye of the other, but two major predominant themes emerge from this cyanide-scented verbal ping-pong: Patricia’s age (“Since time, Patricia’s public is pretty much dead”) and Mathieu’s reputation as a womanizer (“He’s not circumcised… it’s wear and tear!”). Between the two, there are criticisms of the immaturity of the gentleman and the questionable acting talent of the lady in Rooms in townto the new spouses, to the late parenthood of Patricia, then of Mathieu, in his forties… A festival of small and big piques that is undoubtedly amusing.
There is also this one, as the curtain drops, which we could see coming from afar: “Tonight’s show would have been much better if I had done it with Maripier Morin! », who took the place of the first behind a Montreal radio microphone. And boom! All moves are allowed EXseparablewe can even mock a dismissal that is still fresh.
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Patricia Paquin and Mathieu Gratton are therefore going on tour together.
Their union – highly publicized, as the magazine covers projected at the start of the service remind us – lasted six years. Their son Benjamin was born in 2001, they separated in 2004, then tried the experience of boards in tandem with The Exes in 2007. But the adventure ended abruptly two years later.
The reason? The arrival in the scene of a man named Louis-François Marcotte, still Patricia’s partner today and father of her two youngest children, aged 14 and 9. Mathieu has still not digested having learned of Patricia’s last pregnancy in the 7 Days…
The pastel-colored poster of EXseparable suggests a tone that is more good-natured than grating, and it is indeed a unifying energy that emerges from this comic settling of scores, a sort of antithesis to the Morissettein a very similar style.
However, in the promotional photo, Patricia shows off the middle finger and a triumphant smile, and these elements are also revealing: our former lovebirds allow themselves to go far in their mischief. Not for nothing that the production is reserved for ages 16 and over, as its website indicates.
We go beyond the framework of false hatred of exes to crudely touch on subjects relating to sexuality, for example.
PHOTO JOSIE DESMARAIS, THE PRESS
Ghyslain Dufresne, who joins his two accomplices on stage
The EXseparablesit is also the pretext for other reunions: those of Crampe en masse. Ghyslain Dufresne, Mathieu’s old accomplice (and Patricia’s too), regularly makes his rounds in front of the public, accompanying the action with a piece of song or a remark of his own. The sketch of the contour sheet, as stupid as can be, is part of the tradition of Crampe en masse pure jus.
Some segments fly less high, like the risky vignette We couldn’t say anythingwhere we clumsily attempt to play down the word that begins with an N and cultural appropriation with ponchos and sombreros. And let’s forget as quickly as possible this parenthesis on the nouneworthy of a bad teenage sketch.
Author of the texts, Mathieu Gratton has nevertheless always had a knack for hitting the bull’s eye in the game of line and punch. It’s not always hilarious, but the “music” of its characters creates its effect. When directing, Joël Legendre relied on the movement and mimicry of his performers, who give a lot without overplaying, and on a lively rhythm: the numbers are short, varied in nature and add up without length. A 90-minute rocket that you don’t see slipping away.
Benjamin steals the show
A nice wink, previously announced, finally awaits the spectators of the EXseparable : an appearance by Benjamin, the 22-year-old autistic son (another source of laughter for his parents, there is definitely nothing to test them) of Patricia and Mathieu.
Endearing, the young actor STAT does very well in a questionnaire where his parents challenge him to choose which of the two he wants to live with. “My father drinks more alcohol than my mother, but my mother drinks more expensive alcohol…” decrees the young man, who does not hesitate to promote a chain of chicken restaurants of which he is the spokesperson.
If there is one thing on which Patricia and Mathieu seemed to agree on Thursday, while the audience laughed gently to see Benjamin so happy, it was the emotion which embraced them… and made them even makes you lose track of their little quibbles for a second.
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The EXseparables
Patricia Paquin and Mathieu Gratton
On tour throughout Quebec