Last weekend, Marc Messier brought the final point Alone…on stagethe solo exhibition he “burst” at the Théâtre La Marjolaine in August 2021.
I was at Eastman on Friday night. It’s been a long time since a show touched me so much. I laughed, I cried, and most of all I was fascinated by the story of the person featured in Lance et al. immortalized the words of Marc Gagnon: “The hardness of the spirit”, I tasted the “pleasures of the spirit” thanks to Messier. It is indeed an authentic mental exercise that he performs on the show. Even Fabrice Luchini, whom I sometimes saw alone, never managed to captivate me like Messier did with Seul… en scène.
It took the actor three years to write the autobiography, which he reads on stage for almost two hours. He talks about his childhood in the “holy water” in the small town of Granby, then about his difficult beginnings as an actor after studying at the Cégep de St-Hyacinthe and finally about his successes in Lance etcompte, Les Boys, La petite vie and others. At the same time he played Broue 3,300 times with Michel Côté and Marcel Gauthier.
It is undoubtedly because the actor is larger than life, very sensitive and so lovable that despite an extraordinary artistic career, he shows very little ego overall. Ironically, this autobiography, staged by Mani Soleymanlou, the director of the French Theater at the National Arts Center, is also that of his ego, with whom Messier is constantly in dialogue.
A TRUE AUTHOR
Messier was 74 years old when he took the stage at La Marjolaine for the premiere of this show. It was a risk he didn’t have to take because his fame was so great. Apparently, behind the risk-averse actor there is an equally courageous author. To my knowledge, Messier had only ever written one screenplay, “The Sphynx,” in which he played the lead role, that of Réal Prescott. Louis Saïa directed the film, but it did not shape the history of Quebec cinema.
While the first part of “Seul… en scène” is full of humor, jokes and anecdotes that must have made the comedians who watched the show jealous, the part that follows the break is completely different Register. Surprisingly, this second part doesn’t stand out. While the first part tells the actor’s life and deals with his intimate or professional memories, the second part, so to speak, anticipates the years that remain for him to live. Messier addresses old age and death and carefully balances the entire second part of the show on a tightrope.
SATISFIED VIEWERS
The text of this part is sometimes disturbing. Sometimes very dark and so desperate that older viewers’ eyes water. Messier very skillfully finds the words to put us back in the saddle and takes us with him between laughter and tears until the end of the show. The audience applauds spontaneously, but doesn’t ask for an encore because they are so overwhelmed. Even full.