The 2024 Collective takes the stage
“Selfies, live from the fire ”
The combination of François Archambault’s acid wit and Gabrielle Chapdelaine’s unrelenting pen illuminates, to the point of burning our retinas, shining a spotlight on our toxic positivity and other seemingly compassionate yet self-flattering acts. The piece is formidably and passionately played by the younger performers it was written for, strung together as pitch-dark sketches invisibly threading our vanity.
The 2024 Collective is back for another round. The Collective is Mani Soleymanlou’s signature initiative to give recently graduated performers the spotlight in a work co-produced by the NAC’s French Theatre and the Théâtre du Rideau Vert. Led by the renowned Claude Poissant, these fiery twenty-somethings take unabashed joy in challenging our well-meaning values with their twisted morality and uncomfortable dialogue. Will environmentalists devolve into bloody competition? Would people kill a cheater for the sake of sportsmanship? What does French-kissing look like in the age of consent?
When the world is on fire, people’s individual attempts to turn the tide can sometimes resemble nothing more than a worrying parade of ego. Are virtue signallers true saviours or just peacocks beautifully strutting their stuff one last time atop the flames?
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MANI REÇOIT CLAUDE POISSANT
On Thursday, September 26, the opening night of the show, Mani Soleymanlou will be joined by director Claude Poissant as part of the Grandes rencontres du Théâtre français discussion series. The conversation will begin at 6:15 pm in the NAC Salon.