From the start of this closed session, we are charmed by the proposal from designers Charlyne Roux, Pierre-Olivier Roussel and Simon Rollin.
Thanks to garden boxes filled with soil, straw spread on the ground and a fence, the First Act scene is transformed into a modest community garden, just enough worn by time. But nothing seems to grow there. No greenery in sight.
Actually, it’s not surprising when you consider what the characters bury there…
To the right stands a dilapidated shed with a door with a pretty colored stained glass window through which a timid light shines. The stage is never fully lit during this show, because rain is predicted the day Éléonore meets her older brother there by chance.
Béatrice Casgrain-Rodriguez and Antoine Gagnon have a great bond on stage. (David Mendoza-Helaine)
Christophe has been missing for 5 years. He missed almost a third of his little sister’s life, as she reminds him.
Initially, he doesn’t seem eager to explain. Then, we realize that he lacks the words to tell what he experienced, because certain things are difficult to verbalize or admit…
From the beginning to the end of the piece, we are shaken by the pleasantly immersive sound design of Pierre-Olivier Roussel. It seems as if the entire theater is shaking under the force of mysterious rumblings. Is it the resentment of the abandoned sister that is boiling?
A graduate of the Quebec Conservatory, Béatrice Casgrain-Rodriguez appropriates her character and the text of Anne-Virginie Bérubé with great talent. She is very convincing in the role of this heartbroken sister who moves through life like Jell-O since the sudden disappearance of her brother.
While the latter is slow to explain, she tells him the effect of this abandonment on their mother, their cat and herself.
Even if their complicity wants to take over, the young woman, who is about to enter CEGEP, has a lot of anger. She is particularly shocked to see that Christophe seems normal and that he is even able to laugh.
What could have justified this cruel abandonment?
Anne-Virginie Bérubé has written good dialogues which make this brother-sister duo particularly endearing and touching. (David Mendoza Hélaine)
Unfortunately, the viewer who has read the description of the show already has a good idea of the fall of this plot. Perhaps we should have said less, because we don’t go much further afterwards. We would have liked more details on Christophe’s story in order to understand more – or, better yet, to feel – the extent of his disorder.
Most of the silences are very well placed in this 60 minutes show, but we could have taken away a few lines from the sister to give some to the brother.
Like his stage accomplice, Antoine Gagnon makes the most of this role which would have benefited from being more fleshed out. The director Nathalie Séguin obviously directed the actors very well.
Fortunately, as the saying goes, it’s not the destination that matters most, but the journey. And An aftertaste of compost is an entertaining and touching play, as much thanks to its dialogues as realistic as they are playful, as well as thanks to the acting of the actors and the work of the designers.
An aftertaste of compost is presented at Premier Acte until October 19, 2024.
Related News :