A staging in Quebec, a creation in Montreal: the agenda of the precocious creator of 30 knows little rest. And between L’éveil du Printemps, which he has just staged at the Trident, a large theater of which he is now artistic director, and the text he is about to bring to the world, Olivier Arteau sees themes that resonate : the question according to identity, the sense of belonging, “how one defines oneself in relation to oneself and in relation to the group”.
Originally, peeing standing up without lifting his skirt stemmed from his childhood discomfort with his exuberant movement, which he found “too feminine and childish.” The writer-director sees the play as the second part of a project that began with La pudeur des urnoirs, the amazing performance with Fabien Piché in the window of the Center du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui in March 2021, which posed the question: “ Does our body belong to us? “. Here his question about the construction of identity finally broadened: “Do I belong to myself or do others define my own identity? »
The first part of the show features a group of friends reuniting. The characters of different sexual and gender identities end up accusing each other of not following the rules of their community… which are like fashion trends that you can’t escape. Do these labels lead to a better way of being yourself? I don’t think so. And it’s not because we’re socially viewed as vulnerable beings, that we don’t have our paradoxes, and that we’re not full of cognitive biases. The self righteous, we all wear it a little [en soi]. In short, we are quick to judge others.
While his previous piece, the palatable Made in Beautiful (La belle Province), drew a historical panorama, this one is firmly rooted in the present and resembles primarily a sociological study with its discussions of very topical concepts. The more intimate second part pours into autofiction. Arteau developed this “collective work” in stage script, rewritten according to the actors’ improvisations. The multidisciplinary cast consists of their “chosen family”, very close artists who play themselves with “their complexes, their flaws”. “I asked her about her inner monster, her paradoxes, so that we could play with fuel for her. It’s about destroying the idea of fiction: we already wear a persona, a fictional mask. So why not use this character that we create every day on stage to talk about ourselves? »
moments of shame
Each actor’s alter ego therefore makes a sort of solo confession about a “moment of shame” they experienced, which they then seek to recapture to augment through music, video, or a choreographic segment. We can well imagine what an immodest revelation means for the cast. “The process wasn’t always easy either. Because it’s about waking up dark parts, playing in certain traumata and even revealing existing dynamics in the group. It’s like we have to ask their approval for this piece every day because there’s so much coming from them. Shame is required to try to get to the heart of this show more than any other. »
But the evening is announced as emancipatory. “I think friendships calcify after a certain age: You [fige] roles between us. So the point is to say: can we talk about this to try to decalcify what we’ve taken for granted? It is a quest to destroy the prejudices that exist between us, that exist in all communities. It is not because we have chosen ourselves that we need to define ourselves. We must strive together to become indeterminate. »
A concept that Olivier Arteau began to ponder during his master’s degree in dance – punctuated by his appointment to the trident: a desire to remain as porous, as permeable as possible, “rather than rigidity in relation to an identity or to a artistic desire. “But how can one become vague in a world that seeks more and more definitions? »
As creators, we shouldn’t have to define ourselves. “We should be simple and welcome others without having to call them by name. That’s why there’s dance and music in the show: these are unspeakable spaces where there’s nothing to say, where we just live. Rooms where we finally receive. We have goosebumps. The flesh but not the words to define the moment. »
And he hopes the play will elicit a sense of recognition from the audience through the spectrum of plural identities on stage. “The goal is to create a sense of relief similar to how we felt building the show. »
self-mockery
All of this is approached with humor as the brief of Olivier Arteau’s company Théâtre Kata is to work on self-mockery. “That’s the basis of my work: you have to know how to laugh at yourself to get by. I’m critical of who we are because it’s impossible to be authentic. I think that authenticity does not exist in itself. We can try to be more honest and sincere. But you cannot be authentic when you are with others. In this quest to be even more yourself, I think we fit into several very specific silos. »
Also hidden in the story of Pisser, who stands without lifting her skirt, is the drama of an absent character whose friends couldn’t care. “Do you forget, as much as you want to be yourself, to care about others? asks Olivier Arteau. His generation, he says, experiences a “disconnection between the flesh body and the pixelated body.” “We grew up with computer screens and watching people have sex on platforms before they had sex. So I think we’re a generation that’s constantly searching for itself, and in searching for ourselves do we lose a bit of that look at others? »
The young creator never stops questioning the notion of a collective project. That of Quebec in Made in Beautiful. And that of the “LGBT community” in this room. “Are we really together? Is there a sense of connectedness between these individuals, or do we live in so many different realities that it is impossible to unite us under the same name? That’s for sure [la pièce] takes a critical look at a vulnerable community. But even in these communities there are shortcomings, great pains that are not addressed. »
Finally, with this show, the form of which branches off after an initial choral section and is reminiscent of his highly acclaimed predecessor works, the artist, who quickly developed a strong signature, attempts to break away from an aesthetic format in which he himself sometimes feels preoccupied. “Am I creating within the framework in which people have valued me, or am I creating with always so much sincerity? This three-part show is a kind of mutation of shapes and narrative frames that I want to borrow. I think even the show itself is a work finding itself – positively, I hope. He is always looking for the right form to express the right feeling. I’m trying to redefine myself through this show and set traps for myself to not fall into an aesthetic that will define me even more. »
Pee standing up without lifting her skirt
Written and directed by Olivier Arteau. In collaboration with the performers Ariel Charest, Laurence Gagné-Frégeau, Lucie M. Constantineau, Jorie Pedneault (Narcisse), Fabien Piché, Vincent Roy, Zoé Tremblay-Bianco, Sarah Villeneuve-Desjardins. Creation: Kata Theater. In the Michelle Rossignol room of the Center du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui, from March 2nd to 11th.