We have seen him collaborate in several TV shows and play in the fiction series that he himself wrote. Here is the writer, playwright, director and actor Simon Boulerice adding a string to his already well-stocked bow with a performance for the stage taken from his “novel by poems” Geolocate love. A perilous mission that only half convinces.
Just for Laughs invited Simon Boulerice to present for one evening this very little run show, tested in particular in 2019 during the Quebec festival in all letters and at the Fous de theater festival in L’Assomption last summer. Perhaps that was a lot to ask of the prolific novelist…
Supervised on the stage by the talented designer Richard Vallerand and DJ Samnoza (who replaced Millimetrik at short notice, announced on the program), Simon Boulerice gave himself body and soul on Friday to get the slightly amorphous audience of the Studio Hydro-Québec du Monument-National up to their feet.
Simon Boulerice struggled like hell, twerking as best he could and multiplying the dance steps, the public remained frozen, as if he had left his enthusiasm in the locker room.
We must not believe that this vitaminized reading lacked qualities. There was a beautiful madness on stage, but above all an undeniable sensitivity hidden under the almost perpetual joviality that characterizes Simon Boulerice. The discreet laughter of the spectators often gave way to hon! of sympathy.
Because there was something immensely sad in the author’s story of his quest for a soul mate in the era of Tinder and other Grindr. His one-night kisses, his disappointments and his often moral, but sometimes physical wounds each had a name.
Nevertheless, we came away from this reading with the impression of having heard a series of anecdotes of unequal interest. And while the first names of men followed one another on the screen, we were surprised to find the time long…
What’s more, several excerpts were bathed in poetry that clashed with the general tone of the show. The novel Géolociser l’amour is written like a long poem. However, this drawn reading would find a place that would suit it better in a literary festival. Where the author is not obliged to digress (or literally do the splits) to provoke the laughter of the spectators.
