Last night I went to see the play Rappel for the second time (and Karilee and Andre joined me). It is my duty as a boyfriend to attend at least two showings of a play my girlfriend is in. Plus, as an anglophone, it doesn’t hurt to go twice so I can figure out what is going on!
Rappel was written in 1985 (for the life of me, I can’t find the information on the play right now!) and deals with a person’s thoughts of suicide. He deals with his inner voices who appear in the form of The Cow, The Pope and The Muse. The Cow is definitely a hilarious character and it doesn’t hurt that it is played a hilarious actress; a good friend Veronique (not the Vero you know and love, but another one).
Let’s put the cards on the table…as an English guy, I had a hard time following the language in the play the first time around. It would have helped if I knew the basic storyline (which I found out afterward). The second time around, I knew what to expect so I enjoyed it a lot more and I could follow the dialogue.
The play is definitely out of the ordinary from what I’ve seen in the past. There are crowd interactions, there are hilarious moments where they demean a secondary character Alain Lalonde (who has the unfortunate case of being the guy who stole the main character’s girlfriend, but also accidentally kills the main character’s cat and the replacement cat he bought as well), and there is a lot of surreal moments.
The acting was great all around. I enjoyed all the main characters. The lead definitely made us believe that he was a man struggling with his inner demons, while the three main characters in his head provided some excellent comic relief for such a morbid topic. The angels running around the room where also excellent and I found myself noticing that they do a lot while they are off the main stage which people may not notice as everyone is focused on the main characters.
Two issues:
– Promo Video: You may have seen the promotional video for the play listed on this site a few weeks ago. This promotional video was awesome…it had girls in fishnets, it had insanity running through it, it had some dude chained to a chair, it has great music. It was an excellent promotional video. It made me excited to see the play.
However, the video had little to do with the play. No girls in fishnets, no guy chained to a chair, no cannibalistic, manic-depressive witches running towards their prey. So really, I question what the point of the video was? Was it to hype up the play but not accurately reflect what to expect? If that was the intention, bravo. But disappointment was my name the first time I saw the play because it was nothing like the video. Truthful marketing? You be the judge. (or I’ll be the judge and say thee nay).
– Lady Gaga: Sure, Lady Gaga is the new Madonna and Marilyn Manson who likes to push people’s boundaries and that’s great! Also, this play is all about pushing boundaries as well. But to throw a Lady Gaga song in the middle of the play directly after the only other big song of the night (‘King des Losers’) was jarring and felt out of place. It didn’t fit and I really questioned if the artistic choice of putting this song into the play was one that was thought out or another instance of “Hey, I really enjoy Lady Gaga and all she stands for, so I’m going to insert it into the play because I think it will be awesome!”
I compare this to when you start out in your artistic life (whether it be a songwriter, a director, a filmmaker) and you have so many great ideas rolling around in your head and you want to use them all so you try and make a promo video (which was awesome, but misleading), and you insert some Lady Gaga into the play (which we all love on its own, but in this case felt unneeded) but really, it’s just not needed. A wise editor once told me that the hardest thing in life is to know when to edit enough out that it becomes better for the audience.
But the greatest issue of all:
Is not an issue but a compliment. As the token Anglophone, I went in there with hesitation as I really don’t know if I will enjoy it if the language goes over my head. But the thing is, the play had so much energy, action and interaction that not understanding half of it didn’t matter. It was most fun I’ve had at a play. It had a spirit that I have not seen in many plays…one where the people on stage are just having a great time and that energy spreads into the audience. It is an entertaining piece of theater to watch and I highly recommend going to see it. My favourite character of the bunch was The Cow and she had me cracking up every time she moved or spoke. Well done Vero (not the Vero you all know and love, but the other one).
Rappel is in its last week of showing at La Nouvelle Scene. Thursday at 6PM, Friday and Saturday at 8PM.