The Marvelous Phantasmagoria directed by Denis Marleau from the play The blind by Maurice Maeterlinck, a metaphysical dive written in 1890, dazzled us at the Museum of Contemporary Art in 2002, then indirectly ten years later. These video projections of the speaking faces of Paul Savoie and Céline Bonnier on molds bearing their likeness seemed to burn in the dark. Like masks from Greek tragedy.
That such a dark and magical spectacle had traveled the whole world, after a triumphant welcome at the Avignon festival, testified to the impact of these electrifying lamentations on all kinds of audiences. The couple of virtual actors encamped the twelve characters through as many faces drawn from the shadows, plunging the spectators into a state of hypnosis. Review The blind is a privilege, to discover it, undoubtedly a boost. Almost twenty years after the creation of the iconic UBU show, it will land at Espace Go until November 28, on a double program with Sleep my little child by Jon Fosse.
This one-act play seems even more relevant today than at the origin of its staging. Lonely beings on an island populated by trees, rocks and dreams, without landmarks, without gods and without eyes, hold out mirrors to our disoriented figures. They only hear noises, crackles, perhaps signs. We would like radars to spot obstacles like bats. And better to decipher each other.
“We’ve been together for years and years, and we never saw each other! It seems that we are always alone: you have to see to love, ”declares an old blind man to his companions in misfortune. These blind people follow together, so to speak, the dialogues of the deaf. Some have the flickering memory of those who once perceived the sun. Others know only darkness. All are looking for their marks. On her mold, a face panics: “We should know where we are. “
After having experienced health emergencies, massacres, hallucinating technological and social changes, here we are in our seats more worried about these blind people. Suddenly, the allegory hits in the stomach.
In the theater, listening to these spectral mouths, a thousand inner questions assail us. The pangs of pandemics, the vociferations of social media, the shock of opposing ideological camps, the dull fear of planetary tomorrows roar in us. How not to identify with these figures of blindness incapable of preventing the catastrophes hanging from their noses?
We can feel the silhouettes of other invisible cliffs. To whom, to what to turn? These blind people are like our leaders who are struggling to tune their violins to save the battered earth, while celebrating in international summits. Faced with too many financial interests at stake, they grope in unison.
In Quebec, the public often laughs during shows, even after not hilarious lines for two cents. Turning on the TV means hearing talk show guests laughing all the time, drunk with real or simulated joy. But in front The blind, nobody dared to screw up the other night at Espace Go. We wanted to keep clear-sighted eyes away, not open our mouths for a nervous chuckle. People need to be reassured, to relax. We understand them. However, the humor industry in Quebec invites fun more fat than fine in general. This constant bath of hilarity has its perverse effects. It can feed blindness and passivity. He is often stupid. Or perverse. Laughing, this powerful outlet, does not encourage analysis. Gravity has a resonance that we would benefit from appreciating more.
“I’m scared when I don’t speak,” says one of the characters. He could add: when I’m not laughing either… When I left the theater, I thought about this Supreme Court decision acquitting the comedian Mike Ward after sketches ridiculing the physique of young Jeremy Gabriel. Freedom of expression against the right to protection of a fragile minor: the hammer has settled. Here is Ward relieved. Still, it was the bottom of the barrel, laughter of a disabled child! Beyond the verdict remains a great unease.
At least, the paths of humor sooner or later follow the evolution of societies. The gags about gays, aboriginals and blacks are out of date. The times are still being sought, but patience! Today, the judges on this cause have been shown to be as divided as the population, advancing blindly as in Maeterlinck. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll be able to shut up more often, smell the wind, learn to see others and find a better-lit way out of the dark.