Argile verte

6 responses to “Argile verte”

1. A harrowing story of personal loss, including a good deal of vivid suicidal ideation. Be warned.

   An extremely polished performance, and yet an intense, raw, and personal account. Viau’s greatest trick here is how she holds her characters accountable while also exhibiting empathy for their human frailty.

   Indeed, the most heartbreaking thing about this story might be hiw Viau emphasises its mundanity. This is a deep exploration of an extremely common variety of tragedy. And at the end, you report back to work, the same as everybody else. Damn.

2. Corinne’s a very soulful storyteller! Intense and emotional as the performance is, it gave enough warmth and hope that I’m now a bit curious about what sunsets in Rivière-du-Loup look like.

   My one critique is that the English surtitles were a little out of sync in the performance I attended, but I didn’t have an issue following the story.

3. It’s just a box of papers, a chair, a guitar, a hairbrush, and Corinne Viau holding her beating heart up to the audience, detailing its every artery and crevice. AGILE VERTE is the latest in a string of artistic triumphs for Red Beret Theatre, ranking among their most intimately yet effectively staged. Viau’s command of the written word is on live display for an utterly captivating hour and remains second to none. As an anglophone viewer, the translated text was rendered with imagery so lush and so vivid that I left jealous of what I can only imagine the French-speaking audience got to bear witness to in its native form. This is solo performance at its finest: a show that not only deserves your attention, but masterfully earns it and holds it hostage until you leave the theatre.

4. Corinne demonstrates immense emotional endurance throughout. Their voice is full – of tenderness, sorrow, fear, numbness, hope, etc. They expertly navigate their performance while creating an intimate environement.

   (my attempted French translation of the above + wordreference)
   Corinne montre une endurance emotionelle immense. Sa voix déborde de la tendresse, la peine, l’angoisse, l’engourdissement, l’espoir, etc. Iel gouverne bien la représentation en gardant un environnnement intime.

5. Simplement excellent, entièrement captivant.
   Corinne paints a picture out of rural Quebec’s geography and a lifetime of persistance, their guitar accompanying a voice full to the brim with emotion. J’ai quitté le théâtre en cherchant le soleil

6. (Pardon, le français n’est pas ma premiere langue.) Je l’ai vue dimanche et je ne suis pas près d’arrêter d’y réfléchir. C’est une histoire qui failli ne parle qu’à la mort, mais chaque et tous les mots sprintent vers le besoin de vivre. Au moment où l’Autre Sarah a sourit, j’ai tout compris à nouveau. (Je crois que cela n’est pas un vrai spoiler.) J’ai aussi apprecié l’opportunité d’entendre le français de la Gaspésie, mais j’avais absolument besoin des surtitres pour suivre l’intrigue, et je crois que j’ai appris plusieurs nouveaux mots, dont… *certains* pourraient être adaptés pour parlant en publique. C’était juste ce que j’éspère les spectacles du fringe seraient toujours.

   For my fellow anglophones: this is an exceedingly good show about mundane death and life and how despair can blur the line between them, but also a reminder that the fear of death is inextricable from the burning drive to love life. The captions did have a couple of hitches but nothing that would leave you lost. This is the stuff that makes the fringe festival unique and I hope everyone sees it.