Royal review | A merciless race

A smell of blood, sweat and fear. This is what emanates from the stage of the Théâtre Duceppe where a cruel game is taking place these days: that of the race for internships of law students as recounted by Jean-Philippe Baril Guérard in Royal.

Adapted from the novel of the same name, the play immerses us in the fierce world of law students at the University of Montreal, among those who dream of landing an internship – then a position – in major business law firms. Here, ideals have no place and the slightest display of weakness is considered a defect. We are in a world where the value of an individual is measured first by their academic average and then by their annual salary.

But to gain access to this prestigious circle, Arnaud, Mike, Chloé, Rosalie and the others are ready to do anything. Their thirst for success is limitless. Knives fly low in section A of law students, where a self-proclaimed “society elite” is gathered. Intimidation and attacks (perpetrated or suffered) are the daily lot of these students who have been told since childhood that they are the best.

To tell the story of this ascent to the summits which is more like a marathon in a lion’s den, director Jean-Simon Traversy opened the doors of his rehearsal rooms to choreographer Virginie Brunelle. What a wonderful idea that is.

Together, the two imagined a very physical show, where movement supports the words and where the two languages ​​juxtapose wonderfully. Thus, the score is skillfully choreographed without ever falling into excess. Sometimes the bodies attract and repel each other, sometimes the actors dance with a camera which sends us their close-up image.

The abundant and dynamic staging is undoubtedly worth highlighting here. The creators preferred symbolism to realism, imagining scenes in the form of paintings which stay in one’s mind for a long time and which one would believe came from the brushes of a tormented painter.

Young wolves

To embody these young guns, the Traversy-Brunelle duo called on ten performers fresh from theater schools. All of them are excellent at handling Jean-Philippe Baril Guérard’s scathing replies. Some particularly stand out: Irdens Exantus, in the role of Mike-the-showerbagValérie Tellos as the long-toothed idealist, Romy Bouchard who plays the girl from the regions who would have liked to be born elsewhere and Vincent Paquette who plays the main character of Arnaud, an Outremont native nourished with ideas of grandeur.

If we have to find a downside to this production which is both grating and terrifying, it is perhaps in the adaptation of the romantic text to the stage. Here we move very quickly from one scene to another, which can leave you speechless. It’s hard to believe the love story – although central – between Arnaud and his friend Aurélie, a future doctor. We move at high speed from the initiation evening to the crowning of those (we won’t reveal anything here) who will succeed in obtaining the coveted internship places. In this breathtaking race, a few breaks would have been beneficial to allow us to better understand the flaws of each and every person.

That being said, Royal remains a very successful show, both in form and in subject matter. And when the lights go out on a stage transformed into a mass grave by the excessive ambition of the characters, we wonder: how far do we have to go to reach the top?

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Royal

Text by Jean-Philippe Baril Guérard, directed by Virginie Brunelle and Jean-Simon Traversy. With a cast of 10 performers

Duceppe TheaterUntil May 11

7.5/10