con sordina

con sordina

In Con Sordina, a performance work between digital art and theatre, Martin Messier invites us to follow a being thrust into the midst of an eerie scenography developed around the central motif of a cube. Using objects and machines of his devising, as well as sound and light technology, Messier builds a world charged with symbolic images that echo the interiority of this being, who at first seems to be in the grip of this box, and as he gradually frees himself from it, reveals himself.

In a series of tableaus, a naked Messier takes us into the subconscious of a character about whom we know nothing and who successively appears vulnerable, angry, and calm. To have us travel through the many emotions that take hold of his character, Messier calls on various elements of which two principal ones are smoke, symbolizing the inner volcano that we let erupt along with the primal scream, and water, symbolizing a regained inner peace, a loosening-up.

Throughout the piece, as the character reveals his different states, the space surrounding him is also transformed: the lighting takes new forms, the ceiling is lowered and shapes are shifted around, reminding us of the relationship between humans and the environment, humans and machines, and the fact that we are often at the mercy of something bigger than us.

Gradually, the impression emerges that the work is also about ourselves, about everything inside of us, what we hide, what we hold in, what we don’t know about ourselves, and what we must release to be able to live better. 

Director, performer, light and music
Martin Messier

Performer, creative assistant
Elinor Fueter

Technical director, Set fabrication, creative assistant
Francis Vaillancourt-Martin

Creative advisor
Odile Gamache

Performer during the research stages
Kimberley De Jong

Stage manager
Arthur Champagne

Electronic
Nathanaël Lécaudé

Production
14 lieux