Review by François Levesque
50 minutes/Poetico-Theatral/Dance/Physical/PG
“Il était une fois une araignée […] un chien […] un arbre”. These words are pronounced several times across the performance of L’Araignée, and they set up the world in which you are about to enter. You first hear them on a cassette tape as you enter the dimly lit Firestone Gallery, then later by the main protagonists of the play.
The narrative is the tool that enables this remarkable performance, but you don’t attend this show for the plot. Rather, the show’s appeal is the immersive experience that it offers.
Élise Gauthier has created a microcosm of a world with minimal props and simple, effective lighting. Through her text and staging, she explores themes of destruction, chaos, and frustration but also rebirth, tenderness, and hope. This play comes to life through the intense physical acting of Chloe Tremblay and the equally strong but less animal-esque performance of Catherine Boutin. Together, they recount and replay the events that have shaken up their character’s lives.
This play is largely in French, and if you don’t understand the language you may somewhat get lost in the story. But the experience is more about the exchanges between Boutin and Tremblay, both physical and oral: how their bodies work together and how they verbally feed off each other. Through word, chants, and movement, they express emotion in trying to comprehend and make do in a world where all is lost, and work together in hopes of rebuilding it.
This is exactly the type of show fit for the Fringe. It is imaginative and original, without falling into too abstract of a world. I liked that it encouraged audience participation, but now that I reflect on my experience, I would have loved to be involved more actively in the performance from the start, and not only towards the end. Perhaps this is something to consider if this show continues beyond the Ottawa Fringe.
L’Araignée (http://ottawafringe.com/tickets/laraignee/) is playing at BYOV – 1 Firestone Gallery (inside ArtsCourt) Wednesday, June 25 7pm and 9:30pm; Thursday, June 26, 9:30pm; Friday, June 27, 9:30pm; Saturday, June 28, 7pm; and June 29, 9:30pm. Tickets are $10.
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