Created by Gabriel Guertin-Pasquier
Produced by création.thoracique | Montreal, QC
Review by Cristina Paolozzi
45 mins / M / Drama, Poetry, Solo, Storytelling
In the wake of increasing violence against the 2SLGBTQAI+ community, Gabriel Guertin-Pasquier in Garçon Béton, remembers the impact and devastation of the 2022 shooting at Club Q in Colorado Springs, and the 2016 shooting at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando.
In a moving, and somewhat dream like — some would say nightmarish — setting, amid flashing police lights, electro-dance music, and the writhing body of Guertin-Pasquier himself, the stage is transformed into a space of reflection, introspection, and the artist’s poetry as he tried to make sense of the world he lives in, and the world that has transformed into something both euphorically beautiful yet dangerously malicious.
Scene from Garçon Béton. Photo by Camille Blouin.
This show truly blends the line between performance and art, with a minimal stage design, and various costume changes for certain stages of the story. The audience is taken on an emotional journey through identity, politics, art, movement, light, and the darkness that is alway lurking, yet begs to be overcome.
This is an incredibly powerful piece, and rather timely, as a raw social commentary on what it’s like to live in queer spaces, and to have grown up differently than others. A very important and potent piece of theatre, Garçon Béton imagines life differently, while never forgetting the tragedies of the past.
Garçon Béton is playing at La Nouvelle Scène, Studio B from June 12–21. Tickets are $14 plus service fees at the Fringe box office (3rd floor, Arts Court, 2 Daly Avenue), and at the three satellite box offices (LabO in the Ottawa Art Gallery, Fringe Courtyard, 67 Nicholas St and La Nouvelle Scène). Five and ten Show Passes are also available. Visit the Ottawa Fringe Festival’s website for the show’s schedule and check out their online schedule here.
.gif)
