PROJECTS
Reviews
Review: Lepage’s 9-hour Lipsynch an entertaining, powerful statement
What’s in a voice?
Robert Lepage sets out to explore the nature of human utterance in his Lipsynch, now playing in its nearly-nine-hour version at Théâtre Denise Pelletier.
When Lipsynch last played here in 2007, it was only about five hours long.
In retrospect, that version was a direct flight, while this one takes a circuitous route.
The primary tale of Lipsynch is a compelling one, about an orphan adopted by an opera singer after his teen-prostitute mother dies on an airplane. It begins and ends (nine hours later) with mesmerizing operatic arias by singer Rebecca Blankenship. But the journey in between is often digressive in the extreme.
Lepage pursues his theme relentlessly with some of his most fluid, ingenious scenographic work to date. Airplanes, trains, subways, dubbing studios, movie sets, funeral parlours, and kitchens appear and disappear, their component parts deftly handled by the show’s army of technicians who outnumber the nine actors at curtain call.
Thematic connections and wondrous tableaux vivants, however, lack the connective power of plot. Much of this collectively written script feels like it was prematurely enshrined in its magical machine. If you become passionately interested in the inaugural mother/son story, as I did, other strands feel like tenuously linked timeouts refusing to accept the status of subplot.
Still, Lepage knows how to make time stop, as well as how to make it fly. Within the polished 55-minute gem of Act I, he accomplishes both. Much biography is covered very quickly. After the opera singer, Ada (Blankenship), adopts baby Jeremy, we see him morph from infant to pre-schooler to teenager (Rick Miller) within a single London subway ride. The German med student, Thomas (Hans Piesbergen), who helped Ada find the child, reappears as a neurologist destined to become her partner. Three proves a crowd, however, and rebellious Jeremy heads across the Atlantic seeking both his birth mother’s Nicaraguan roots and a film career in L.A.
As Jeremy’s plane soars, his adoptive and birth mothers hovering outside in his imagination, Lepage shifts to art-installation slow motion as Blankenship sings. Breathtaking.
Rick Miller is the saving grace of sketchy writing. He’s a revelation in several roles, including that of Jeremy’s probable biological father, a BBC announcer with a fake-posh accent named Tony. Sarah Kemp is riveting as Tony’s sexually abused sister. Nuria Garcia, who plays Jeremy’s love-interest as well as his birth mother, proves engaging and versatile throughout, as does Piesbergen. When Lipsynch goes CSI after the death of Briggs, John Cobb steals the focus as a Scotland Yard veteran.
Beyond its multi-media soap opera aspect, Lipsynch conveys a powerful statement on the evils of human trafficking, from a director not known for advocacy theatre.
On Saturday, among those who paid $90 plus $13 for a boxed lunch, the verdict was unanimous. The standing ovation was overwhelming.
Lipsynch continues at Théâtre Denise Pelletier, 4353, Ste-Catherine Est, until March 14. Tickets $90 (9 hours), or $38 (per three-hour segment). Students $75 (complete), or $30 (three-hour segment). Call 514-253-8974. www. denise-pelletier.qc.ca
Store
