The final part of a “cycle of collapsology”, The Fabulative Species is a free adaptation of the eponymous essay by Nancy Huston. A slightly anxiety-provoking spectacle which speaks of the collapse of our civilization, and the uncertain continuation of our history.
The author and designer of the Pirata Théâtre company, Michelle Parent, began her cycle in 2020 with How to Marry a Millionaire, before continuing with 100 Seconds Before Midnight. Two shows which announced the collapse of our system, whether economically, socially or environmentally.
With The Fabulous Species, we are there. In hot water. Scientists’ reports on global warming have been ignored. Calls for economic degrowth were followed by a burst of laughter. The population continues to grow. The actions of the activists were ridiculed, in short, think of the film Don’t Look Up and you have the idea.
As usual, Michelle Parent brought together actors and non-actors on stage, always a risky gamble, but which surprisingly works quite well. This time, she chose performers who had experienced a “personal breakdown” that they managed to overcome. These six performers thus broaden the discussion on the state of the world and ways to survive the disasters that await us…
We have in mind the play Paradise Lost by Jean Leloup… “First of all there will be the challenging challenges. There will be storms, seas of oil. There will be deadly waves. There will be reefs, there will be reefs. There will be sharks, there will be scurvy, diseases. There will be mutinies. And many of us will lose our lives…”
If you suffer from ecoanxiety, this show may not be an outing that we recommend…
In any case, we never go into the details of the performers’ “personal breakdowns”, we only imply them, in a certain confusion.
There are still two interesting avenues which are becoming clearer little by little. The first is the parallel with the work of Nancy Huston, which responds to questions submitted by the designers of The Fabulous Species. In a recording played on stage, he is heard explaining the thesis of his essay, namely that we are all “walking stories” and that as the only species aware of its mortality, we tell ourselves stories or narratives to give meaning to our lives, to protect us too.
If we extrapolate, we can ask ourselves: in a world that is collapsing (or completely collapsing!), what will be the story we will tell ourselves?
The other interesting track, which is fleshed out in the second part, is that of Van Gogh’s Sunflowers – a greenhouse with sunflowers is also placed in the center of the scene. We recall in particular the story of environmental activists from the Just Stop Oil movement, who threw tomato soup on the Dutch painter’s masterpiece at the National Gallery in London last year (without damaging it) .
This gesture, ridiculed by several observers, is nevertheless a call for help to preserve nature. But unfortunately, there are some topics that we just don’t want to talk about. The environment is one. We won’t talk about it until it’s too late… French ecologist Yves Cochet even predicts that humanity could disappear in 2050…
In the end, the flowers will remain, one of the performers will say. Flowers and… a call for revolution. The only way left to survive this collapse, a voice off-camera tells us. What story are we going to tell ourselves after seeing this show so we can go about our business as if nothing had happened?
