First collaboration between Alix Dufresne (Hidden Paradise) and Etienne Lepage (The logic of the worst), the creation of Civilization malaise, Saturday night at the Festival TransAmériques, looks like a test bed for lovers of discovery. This experimental show clashes with the programming of an international festival.
Posted at 11:24 a.m.
We understand the desire of contemporary artists to go against the prevailing discourse, to shun conventional aesthetics. Gold Civilization malaise, subtitled “a philosophical vivarium”, is a one-hour theatrical laboratory without narrative or sustained dramatic curve. A theater devoid of meaning and decorum, which turns into a great scenic mess that spins empty.
Four characters in search of height
At the beginning, the four protagonists arrive unexpectedly on stage, in full light. They explore the empty space, seeming to ignore the rules of the theater, even the presence of the public. They eat, think out loud, whisper, stumble on the set…
After a few minutes of lazzis, the actors end up taming the space. They become aware of the public and speak directly to them by breaking the fourth wall. And not halfway! A shoe is thrown into the stands, narrowly missing a spectator. An actress calls out to a spectator in the first row and “borrows” her jacket.
Gradually, the four beasts of the stage will try more radical experiments. They want to test both their physical and moral endurance. The stage will become a mess, strewn with rubbish. A comedian vomits on the floor, then rolls in his vomit. Another will come and wipe it all off with a cloth… Memorable!
In the end, guess what? The show will not take place. An usher comes to interrupt the performance to ask to speak “to a manager”. The troop will have to pick up their damage and leave the scene. And here we go again with another burlesque session that will make the room burst into laughter, before a finale as chaotic as the whole play.
Of course, the idea here is to expose, through these beasts of the stage, the clumsiness, discomfort and anxieties in our cautious humanity. Lepage’s (short) text is akin to a summary of playful and theatrical philosophy. In our opinion, philosophy has a broad back. Because the exercise left us cold.
Civilization malaise
By Etienne Lepage and Alix Dufresne
With Florence Blain Mbaye, Maxime Genois, Renaud Lacelle-Bourdon and Alice MoreaultAt Prospero, until 1er June