On the same day, March 14, three very different plays will be shown in Montreal, all of which offer a feminist perspective. Not to mention that they are linked by certain common themes. The duty has therefore brought together, to their enthusiasm, three of the artists who carry these shows. Some see in this coincidence the sign of a greater presence of this word, or in any case of the creators, in theatrical programming. “I’m so happy to be interviewing you today, because I know what it means,” says Guillermina Kerwin. We are reaping the fruits here of what some have been doing for decades. »
To sum up roughly, one could say that, each in their own way, these shows make visible, in order to challenge them, trivialized visions, stereotyped patterns of women. Using all the power of humour, these productions overturn clichés, hijack codes, appropriate conventional stories in order to rewrite them. In particular, they question the representation of women in culture and the media. In the collective imagination.
Presented at the Center du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui, Good looking guy satirizes the toxic part of popular culture, the complacency of certain productions in the face of the victimization or exploitation of women’s bodies, where we “accept the trivialization of rape” under the guise of entertainment. For Guillermina Kerwin, who is putting on the play, Canadian author Erin Shields had the brilliant idea of saying, “If this is entertainment, let’s play it the other way around and get [l’impact] to see men being mistreated. It’s about overturning stereotyped speeches and behaviors in order to better reveal them.
The show, in front of which “we laugh a little yellow”, is set in a futuristic context where women hold the roles of power. Three of them (Marie Bernier, Oumy Dembele, Cynthia Wu-Maheux) comment with detachment on very graphic films and TV series, while ogling a man-object (Gabriel Lemire)… “ Good looking guy is a satire of a culture of domination, of a patriarchal society, but I also see it as a satire of universal human behavior, of wanting to dominate, says the director. I try to approach it in a humanistic way. We question the definition of power, of power. Maybe power is being in a system of partnership, rather than patriarchy. »
Let’s be angry together. I claim the right to be angry at certain things. From the moment when, all together, we tell ourselves that it doesn’t make sense, that’s when we can start to change things. But we must honor the place in us where, men and women, it squeaks.
Project launched by the shock of Claire Renaud in front of the assaults of women in the streets of France after the victory of the Blues during the 2018 Soccer World Cup, Sportriarchy, created at Espace libre, examines the links between the culture of sport, its media representation and the relationship of social domination, addressing the culture of rape. The world of spectator sport becomes a “magnifying glass”, a metaphor for talking about the wider society, says the writer on the set.
With this series of paintings, very performative, “it’s as if we were entering the stadium of the Olympic Games of feminism”. The six performers “play a bit on the stereotypes of the sports world. Metaphors are staged. We also try to use the positive values of sport as a space for emancipation. We present the two sides of the medal, in the background”.
Véronique Pascal, the interpreter and translator of Cut, had “a very strong physical reaction” when reading this text by Australian Duncan J. Graham. Transforming the intimate room of the Prospero into an airplane interior, the solo follows the thoughts and feelings of a flight attendant chased by a man. Using “the posture of women in horror cinema, the figure of final girl — the survivor slashers -, thesetalk movietheatrical” puts the spectator in a “slightly destabilizing” position. And without revealing the reversal, the story undoes a feminine archetype and rewrites before our eyes a “worn-out narrative”. “There is a big takeover. We go from a frightened woman to a conqueror. »
This is one of the themes common to the trio of pieces: the female body, how it is stereotyped, abused, exploited… The designers agree. “It’s a body-object, adds Véronique Pascal. And in Cut, the body-object becomes subject. It comes alive with a mythological force, a force that claims to be anger, in fact. That [la protagoniste] can’t express. »
“It’s funny, we take the same path in Sportriarchy “Intervenes Claire Renaud. The show first stages “what is expected” of women, such as delicacy, to achieve an image of power. “We asked ourselves the question of how to do that without reproducing the codes of virility. The idea is to question the media representation, to deconstruct it and to show something else on stage. Finally, the strength comes a lot from the group, from the team. And I think what is cathartic about the show is not so much that we come up with solutions, but that we understand that the way out is sisterhood, community. From the moment we started talking about that, we gained strength from having opened up on that word. And to listen to each other. »
A culture
The creators seem to agree that with their shows, it is a question of targeting a system, a culture, and not a group, namely men. “In my work, my look is really to stop talking about this dichotomy between victims and aggressors,” says Renaud. It is to turn towards the institution. […] How is it that the people at the head of the institutions are involved in the attacks, perpetuate them, hide them? That is, power is a problem. We have to stop looking at this as anecdotes. “Domination is a problem,” Kerwin said. Men too are asked to be invisible, in their intimacy, in their ability to relate to themselves, just like us. It is a common evil. That’s why I like us to be inclusive. Because it concerns everyone. We reproduce the system [binaire] if we say: “you are the culprit and I am the victim”. Domination is reproduced. Let’s be kind. »
“Let’s be angry together,” says Pascal. I claim the right to be angry at certain things. From the moment when, all together, we tell ourselves that it doesn’t make sense, that’s when we can start to change things. But we must honor the place in us where, men and women, it squeaks. »
“That’s what seems common to our shows, when I hear you speak: I have the impression that we make shows so that men are as angry as women, believes the creator of Sportriarchy. For me, that’s the key: if I manage to make you understand what we live every day, and make you feel it in your body, I know that you will leave the room transformed and will have want to think differently. »
In the end, she judges that her responsibility as an artist resides there: in the writing of “new narratives” to occupy the cultural space. “We don’t have time to question what has been done. Just gotta do something else. And that it takes up all the space, finally. “You have to do it without fear,” adds Véronique Pascal. “Without apologizing! concludes Guillermina Kerwin.