If there is a lesson to be learned from the play Excuse mepresented at Théâtre La Bordée, says that mothers who choose to follow their professional ambitions often have to do so at the expense of their family's well-being.
“Have you not understood yet that everything we have done in our lives has been a reaction to what you have done?” says Simon (Marc-Antoine Marceau) to his mother Kristin Miller (Marie-Ginette Guay). .
This line best sums up the premise of the play Apologia, directed by La Bordée's co-general director and artistic director Michel Nadeau and whose media premiere took place on Wednesday.
Kristin Miller is an experienced art historian. After all the activist struggles of her youth, she dedicated her life to her career and finally published her biography, in which the existence of her two sons is not mentioned anywhere. This omission has not gone unnoticed by the latter, who in the past have often been relegated to second place by their mothers.
During a dinner for Mrs. Miller's birthday with her two sons and their spouses (Rosalie Cournoyer and Annabelle Pelletier-Legros), the tension reaches its peak and the camel finally boils over.
Marie-Ginette Guay shines in her role as an experienced professional but unworthy mother. She manages to highlight the strong, feminist and stubborn side of her character, who unsuccessfully tries to convince herself that her ambitions have not harmed her family. Little by little, through Ms. Guay's performance, we sense that Kristin Miller's barricades are beginning to fall until, in the final seconds of the piece, she collapses completely crying.
Contrast between characters
Rosalie Cournoyer and Annabelle Pelletier-Legros shine alongside Marie-Ginette Guay in Apologia.
One in the skin of a rather simple American Christian, the other in the role of a soap opera actress with superficial taste, the two women act assertively and convincingly.
Despite being diametrically opposed in their values and personalities, all three characters avoid unnecessary confrontations. On the contrary, we have the feeling that the words of one are working their way through the minds of the other two, which shows, on the one hand, the depth and thoughtful side of the piece and, on the other hand, that feminism is capable of a number of forms.
Apologia, a British play by Alexi Kaye Campbell and translated into French by Angélique Patterson and Jenny Montgomery, is a powerful work about ambition, beliefs and family, all from one perspective. refreshingly feminist and nuanced. The work will be presented at the Théâtre La Bordée until March 23rd.