Talisman Theatre’s Still Life
explores anxiety
Opening a dialogue between mental health and the expectations produced by our cultures
By Faith Langston
October 31, 2024
A victory for English theatre in Montreal? Or for French theatre? Talisman Theatre in conjunction with La Chapelle Scènes Contemporaines has a vibrant, living mission: to produce English-language premieres of Quebec plays in translation. Their goal is to make French plays accessible to the English population and give them the recognition they deserve.
Directed by the inimitable Emma Tibaldo, the play was brilliantly acted, beautifully staged and received a well-deserved standing ovation.
On October 28, at Théâtre de la Chapelle, I saw Still Life, Rhiannon Collet’s translation of the French play Chienne, written by Marie-Ève Milot and Marie-Claude St-Laurent. It is interesting to note that the French version of this production was first seen at Salle Jean-Claude-Germain in 2018, a creation of the Théâtre de l’Affamée.
Lest it be thought that the English elites have triumphed once again, it should be pointed out that Still Life will not simply be limited to English. French surtitling of the play will open the doors for a wider, linguistically diverse audience.
Directed by the inimitable Emma Tibaldo, the play was brilliantly acted, beautifully staged and received a well-deserved standing ovation. The relatively simple plot brings the repercussions of a performance-oriented society into focus. A thirtieth birthday bares the protagonist‘s high expectations of a career which doesn’t match with her inconsequential job. There are no easy ways to escape her troubled state of mind. She tests herself as a live nude model and as a clinical subject for stress – but both bring on panic attacks. When she retreats into her small apartment, her parents and friends are unable to coax her out.
‘The relatively simple plot brings the repercussions of a performance-oriented society into focus.’
The staging of the protagonist’s state of mind is an outstanding feature of this play. She seeks refuge, but her thin apartment walls betray her every move. She feels trapped, as if in a labyrinth. Sound and movement work together to portray her nightmarish experience. Her mother’s (Cory Lawrence) solicitous calls on her answering machine, her father’s (Joey Lespérance) incomprehension of her troubled state of mind, her cheerful adventurous friend’s (Nora Guerch) attempts to cheer her up, her landlord’s (Anton May) incursion into her life all leave her feeling more isolated, alone than ever.
Cara Rebecca’s incandescent portrayal of a thirty-year-old woman (the fact that the protagonist in this play has no name, widens the description) stems from her own understanding of life. Her words testify to this. “Some of the experiences of anxiety, depression, and relationship dynamics were informed a lot by my own world, and then I had to shift and play with the expansion and limitation of what served the text. There’s a lot more experimentation in this process, perhaps, than in some others”
A candid look at anxiety, Still Life opens a dialogue between mental health and the expectations produced by our cultures both French and English. Will more plays in translation be produced by Talisman? I asked Lyne Paquette, Talisman’s Artistic and Executive Director since 2009. Though several plays are waiting in the wings, financing remains a problem. Is this a so-called worthy cause?
There can be no doubt that Montreal’s bilingual cultural scene necessitates productions that speak to all communities. Any undertaking that enhances the understanding between French and English communities is a worthwhile one.
Talisman Theatre’s Still Life
From October 28 to November 9
lachapelle.org
Images: courtesy of La Chapelle Scènes Contemporaines
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Faith Langston is a Concordia graduate with a long-standing interest in theatre, who works as a literacy tutor.
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