{"id":75508,"date":"2022-06-08T10:37:49","date_gmt":"2022-06-08T14:37:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=75508"},"modified":"2022-06-08T10:37:49","modified_gmt":"2022-06-08T14:37:49","slug":"scrutiny-singulieres-technical-tour-de-force-coup-de-theatre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2022\/06\/08\/scrutiny-singulieres-technical-tour-de-force-coup-de-theatre\/","title":{"rendered":"SCRUTINY | \u2018Singuli\u00e8res\u2019 Is A Technical Tour De Force And Coup De Th\u00e9\u00e2tre"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Maxime
Maxime Beauregard-Martin’s ‘Singuli\u00e8res’ Crow\u2019s Theatre and Th\u00e9\u00e2tre Fran\u00e7ais de Toronto (Photo: Vincent Champoux)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Crow\u2019s Theatre and Th\u00e9\u00e2tre fran\u00e7ais de Toronto\/Singuli\u00e8res, written by Maxime Beauregard-Martin, directed by Alexandre Fecteau, Guloien Theatre, Streetcar Crowsnest, June 2 to 10 (live), June 11 to 26 (digital streaming). Tickets available here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

It seems that every documentary theatre I\u2019ve ever seen comes with a huge and complicated set, and Singuli\u00e8res<\/em> is no different. In fact, the stage looks like a dog\u2019s breakfast of randomly scattered technical equipment and set pieces when you enter the theatre. Nonetheless, everything makes sense once the play begins, coupled, as it is, with a fascinating examination of Qu\u00e9becois single women in their 30s and 40s.<\/p>\n

Director Alexandre Fecteau is becoming something of a king of Quebec documentary theatre. It was his idea initially to make singuli\u00e8res a subject for a play, and he brought in writer Maxime Beauregard-Martin. The result is a compendium of the interviews the men did with single women over a two-year period.<\/p>\n

And here is something I didn\u2019t know, which explains Fecteau\u2019s interest in singuli\u00e8res.<\/p>\n

The immigrants who originally settled in New France brought with them the traditions and rituals surrounding the vielle fille or old maid. On St. Catherine\u2019s Day\/Old Maid\u2019s Day, November 25th, unmarried women 25 years old and over were honoured. These Catherinettes, as they were called, asked the saint for help in finding husbands, because if they waited too long, like over 30, they would have to don the \u201cSt. Catherine\u2019s bonnet\u201d and officially become spinsters or old maids.<\/p>\n

\"Maxime
Maxime Beauregard-Martin’s ‘Singuli\u00e8res’ Crow\u2019s Theatre and Th\u00e9\u00e2tre Fran\u00e7ais de Toronto (Photo: Vincent Champoux)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While the ritual has become a fun day in France and Quebec, there is still a stigma surrounding those women who are in a celibate state. (In French, celibacy seems to refer to a life without men, not a life without sex.) In some quarters, these women who are not wives and\/or mothers are regarded as lesser vessels, so Fecteau wanted to dig down into the lives of these singuli\u00e8res who are defying existing and deep-rooted Catholic and Qu\u00e9becois conventions.<\/p>\n

There are five main characters, although we also meet other singles. Jo\u00e8lle (Fr\u00e9d\u00e9rique Bradet) wants to adopt a child from Haiti. Rose (Savina Figueras) is a feminist student who was sexually abused in her past. Jordan (Danielle LeSaux-Farmer), who is Jewish, works for her family\u2019s commercial interests. Zaya (Eva Sa\u00efda) is a Muslim woman negotiating the slippery slope of dating Qu\u00e9bcois men, while Nathalie (Sophie Thibeault) is an artist and writer.<\/p>\n

The format of the play is mind-blowing, as it is built around interviews with these women, with all the actors taking turns performing the role of the male interviewer. The actors also man the cameras and microphones, and position the maquettes which provide scenography. There is a tiny carousel which contains slices of rooms where interviews take place. Green-screen technology is used to provide background. Above the stage is an ongoing video of what is being recorded. As a very humorous side-note, Fecteau refers to these extra demands on the actors as \u201crelated tasks\u201d.<\/p>\n

A brilliant conceit is including old documentary footage from the 50s (or so it looks) where people are asked whether the concept of the old maid still exists. Some of the answers are downright hilarious.<\/p>\n

While there are surtitles on a screen, patrons can also opt for 3D Smart Glasses which contain the text. In other words, you can read them in front of your eyes while you watch the video or the action on stage. The words of the surtitles are brought to you, as it were, and I loved them.<\/p>\n

While I agree, to a certain extent, with the director and writer, that these women are pursuing their lives by defying the female stereotypes of traditional Qu\u00e9bec values, and yes, that they are also redefining what it means to be a single woman in Qu\u00e9bec today, I\u2019m not sure that the five woman (and the others) are living the single life with \u201cjoy and purpose\u201d and finding \u201cfulfillment\u201d. Some of them are definitely on the melancholy side of things, but admittedly, none of them seem to be ladies-in-waiting for a man.<\/p>\n

Kudos to Fecteau\u2019s talented creative team (who seem to be mostly women) \u2014 Ariane Sauv\u00e9 (set), Jeanne Lapierre (costumes), St\u00e9phane Caron (music), Chantal Labont\u00e9 (lighting) and David B. Ricard (video projections). We also have to give a shout-out to the men who actually make the show run in all its complexities \u2014 stage managers Keven Dubois and Fabien Locas, sound manager Nicolas D\u00e9sy, and finally, Billy Bergeron who is both technical director and production manager.<\/p>\n

What director Fecteau and writer Beauregard-Martin, the talented actors, and their behind-the-scenes colleagues have achieved is a live-documentary happening before our eyes. It is well and truly a technical tour de force and a coup de th\u00e9\u00e2tre.<\/p>\n

(Singuli\u00e8res<\/em> was originally produced by le collectif \u2014 Nous sommes ici and Th\u00e9\u00e2tre La Bord\u00e9e, both of Qu\u00e9bec City, and Th\u00e9\u00e2tre Catapulte, Ottawa-Gatineau.)<\/p>\n

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Maxime Beauregard-Martin\u2019s \u2018Singuli\u00e8res\u2019 offers live documentary theatre that unfolds before your eyes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":75511,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[39907,52,62,63],"tags":[23344,40117,28527],"yst_prominent_words":[],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2022\/06\/Singulieres-REVIEW.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9bakr-jDS","amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75508"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75508"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75513,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75508\/revisions\/75513"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75508"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=75508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}