Six former ringette teammates reunite for an intensive personal growth weekend led by their former captain. But under the leadership of the ruthless Jasmine, the trip quickly turns into a nightmare.
It is in the breeding ground of (very) alternative medicines, pseudocurative retreats and other activities supposed to realign the chakras that the play May contain traces of ego, presented this summer at the La Marjolaine theater, unfolds.
The summer comedy features women at the end of their tether: Sylvie the ex-alcoholic, Nataly the pragmatist, Stéphanie with her youth frozen in botox and Isabelle the overworked nurse.
The long-awaited reunion quickly takes on the appearance of a brown-green juice cure, where sleep is prohibited and where bizarre activities multiply, such as meditation with goats or letting go with one hand…
Six authors pooled their talents to create the play, eight years ago. Initially a sketch comedy, the play took on a different turn over the versions with the arrival of a narrative framework that brings coherence to the whole.
Marika Lhoumeau and Marie-Ève Soulard La Ferrière were inspired by the characters created during the first drafts to refine the text. The result is a delirious dive into a quest that many women – but also men – know too well: that of self-improvement to strive for (unattainable) perfection. And finally find happiness.
“This quest for absolute happiness is at the heart of the piece,” explains Marie-Ève Soulard La Ferrière. We wonder how far educated people can go to achieve a better life, sometimes to the detriment of their health. In addition, there is currently an overabundance of information telling women how to be more beautiful, thinner, stronger…”
“This bottomless quest, this need to cling on to the new fashionable thing… The six characters experience it in their own way,” adds Marika Lhoumeau.
Catherine Proulx-Lemay plays Nataly, an aspiring novelist who is by far the most lucid of the group. “Like all the girls in the group, Nataly is on a quest, but she is mainly there to see her old ringette gang again. She will quickly realize that there is something fishy about this weekend. »
The performer adds: “I’m really in tune with my character. I’m not the type to take on new things to make myself feel better. I do yoga, but even that annoys me! I’m zero green juice! »
For her very first summer theater experience, Eve Pressault takes on the role of Isabelle. “She’s a nurse who doesn’t listen to herself much. She is always there for everyone. The other girls find her very tired. And she is, to the point of losing all discernment. Isabelle reaches a breaking point in her life. When Jasmine decides to take her antidepressants off, she will experience a descent into hell… She’s a very fun character to play. »
Is the actress very different from Isabelle? “Yoga and mystical things interest me a lot. Yes, I’ve done green juice fasts and weekends, but I also see the potential for things to go awry! »
Even if May Contain Traces of Ego is directed by Marc Saint-Martin, the play remains a strongly feminine project. Six authors wrote the text for six female characters. This is not a common thing.
“For the authors, a complicity was established from the start,” illustrates Marika Lhoumeau. We quickly united around the theme, because we understood each other in this shortness of breath that many women feel. »
For the performers too, this “girls’ trip” looks promising. Because the six actresses – Geneviève Brouillette, Valérie Blais, Joëlle Lanctôt, Catherine Paquin Béchard, Catherine Proulx-Lemay and Eve Pressault – will stay near La Marjolaine, in the Eastman region. “It will be a bit like a summer camp,” says Catherine Proulx-Lemay.
“We’re really looking forward to our aperitifs at the chalet,” adds Eve Pressault. It’s truly a gang show that will be fun and energetic to deliver, but also to receive! »
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Twelve years have passed since the presentation in Montreal of the play Le nom, directed by Serge Denoncourt. The director is tackling it again, but with a brand new cast made up of Karine Gonthier-Hyndman, Mikhaïl Ahooja, Noémie O’Farrell, François-Xavier Dufour and Benoit Drouin-Germain. This comedy by the French Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patellière features a couple who are expecting their first child. The latter sees a dinner between friends derailed because of the first name chosen for their future baby.
The actress Marie-Thérèse Fortin, originally from Bas-Saint-Laurent, returns to her neck of the woods all summer to defend the play Fanny at the Théâtre du Bic. This text signed by Rébecca Déraspe (also from the region) tells the story of a woman in her early sixties who welcomes Alice, a committed young student, into her home. Upon contact with him, Fanny will have to begin a necessary reflection on her preconceived ideas and on the meaning of her life… Marie-Hélène Gendreau acts here as director.
The two great friends Michel Charrette and François Chénier once again combine their pens for the summer play Croisière en eaus troubles (which the pair also directs). Here, Jacques and Carole, a couple in their late fifties, decide to break the monotony by treating themselves to a dream cruise. This will be an opportunity for them to meet other vacationers who will come and put their two cents into this adventure. For better and, we guess, worse. The cast includes five performers including Marcel Leboeuf and Myriam Leblanc.
Several shows are back on stage this summer. This is the case of the solo Bachelor, a classic written by Louis Saïa, Louise Roy and Michel Rivard and defended by Monika Pilon, who will be visiting Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts and Repentigny. The play Madness! will also be repeated in Kingsey Falls with a new cast grouped around Guy Richer. As for Le Dîner de cons, notably starring Laurent Paquin, Normand D’Amour, Bernard Fortin and René Simard, the play can be seen at L’Assomption and Brossard this summer.