Showtime – A big play | From the jar to the aquarium: a disconcerting odyssey

The Jar Project trio promised to shake up theatrical conventions, and they did. His proposal, exploded, is a chaotic quilt in which at least six show ideas are tried before being abandoned. Confusing, you say?

Already almost ten years since the Projet bocal collective was born, and its founders Simon Lacroix, Sonia Cordeau and Raphaëlle Lalande, followers of absurd humor and fantasy, present their short theatrical forms, accompanied by songs, in small theaters intimate.

This time, Projet bocal was offered the big stage at Duceppe. In other words: the big aquarium! With water heater, exotic plants and Japanese moss. show time is precisely the story of this passage from the jar to the aquarium.

“As we are a lot into the strange, we liked the image of a jar that distorts reality a little when you look through it”, Simon Lacroix told us shortly before the first creation of the collective. This deformation, even through the glass of an aquarium, remains intact, let him be reassured.

The trio therefore comes on stage with the intention of presenting us with an improvisational show (without decor), “which goes off the beaten track”…

Haro on American coins!

Adios, the big American plays with predictable plots, they insist, the public of Duceppe will see what is most creative in these artists sponsored by Les fromages d’ici (a gag that will return throughout the show). But now, after a few torturous minutes, the three actors have to admit defeat. Full blockage.

They must therefore fall back on their plan B: an American play… So seven actors appear, led by Éric Bernier (hilarious) in the real setting of a chic residence, which appears on a revolving stage. An American family is gathered for the Thanksgiving. Clichés here abound. We are immersed here in the pure juice parody of a family intrigue.

This parody could have been carried to the end, we would have laughed, and described the play as such. But that would have been misunderstanding our three clownfish (scuse her).

In fact, as soon as the spectator has the impression of having a grip on this quirky proposition, Projet bocal pulls the rug out from under our feet. From the American play, we will move on to a musical comedy inspired by Catsan experimental piece, a parody of I love Hydro baptized I like rocks, documentary theater (one of the most successful of show time) and a rap battle (whose words we struggled to understand).

The collaboration of our three mollys will stop abruptly following a rap of insults which will upset two of the three protagonists, who will meet again in 2043 for the conclusion of the show haunted from the start by the specter of Jean-Guy Boulette, to whom the trio had promised a check – that of Fromages d’ici… Long story, you will go to see the play to grasp everything.

In short, all this to tell you that this show timewhich pastiches several theatrical genres, is very entertaining, that we find with pleasure its founders, very endearing, as well as their guests – Éric Bernier and Dominique Leduc in the lead, even if these breaks in tone and freeze frames can be confusing, even exasperating moments.

That said, we must salute the audacity of the artistic directors of Duceppe to present a show typically produced at La Licorne, which gently makes fun of American theater – a genre that made the heyday of the Duceppe theater – but also of the sponsors — who are the bread and especially the butter of these artists.

We will see over the weeks if the Duceppe public will appreciate being led (and jostled!) into the recesses of this large aquarium imagined by Projet bocal.

Showtime – A big play

From Jar Project. With Simon Lacroix, Sonia Cordeau, Raphaëlle Lalande and seven other actors. 1h30 without intermission.

At Duceppe’s.Until December 17.

7/10