FRINGE 2015: Icepick-moé l’coeur

On June 9th, we spoke to Ghislain St-Germain Forcier and Emmanuelle Brousseau at the lovely Bela Vista, a family-owned Portuguese bakery located at the corner of Papineau and Beaubien.

Ghislain is 24-year-old French Literature student at L’Univesité de Montréal. Emmanuelle is 21, and studies Production at L’École Nationale de Théâtre/National Theatre School of Canada (NTS). Together they wrote “Icepick-moé l’coeur” (Icepick), a drama about two ex-lovers that can’t quite seem to let each other go. Emmanuelle is the director of the play.

Read more to see our conversation, translated into English from the original French-language interview.

Frantz: So Ghislain and Emmanuelle …

Ghislain & Emmanuelle: Yessir!

Frantz: How did you meet each other?

Emmanuelle: We both went to Cegep de Trois-Rivières studying Literature.

Ghislain: It was a small program. We had all our courses together for the entire two years. We even ended up forming a clique of 10 friends who all moved to Montreal together two years ago.

Frantz: Which one of you is at the Conservatory and which one is at UdeM (L’Univesité de Montréal)?

Emmanuelle: Well actually, I’m at the National Theatre School of Canada (NTS). It’s our only play that is presented at the Conservatory (Studio Multimédia du Conservatoire).

Frantz: I’m sorry, I really had a hard time finding any info on (your production company), lAntithèse...

Emmanuelle: It’s normal, it was a production that was put together for the Fringe (Festival). We’ll see about it’s future. I’ll probably change the name.

Frantz: You were saying you both studied in Literature, what got you interested in that field?

Emmanuelle: I went into Literature to explore writing and cinema. These days, I have less time for literary stuff since we’re looking more at sound and video production right now at the school (NTS). Icepick is a return to writing for me, and that’s something I’ve missed. When I think about it, I write way more than I read (laughs). I use to read way more before.

Ghislain: You need to be a good reader to learn how to write. But I guess we have the right background for that sort of thing. I really like the whole storytelling aspect of Literature as well as how it tries to reveal all those taboos we try to slip under the rug. It helps us, not necessarily to catharsis, but to see what’s coming ahead and prepare accordingly. Perhaps my small contribution to Icepick was with that purpose in mind.

Emmanuelle: At the beginning, "Icepick" was fragments of both our poetry that we tried to match and harmonize.

Frantz: Yes, you two are both credited as playwrights, how did the co-writing work out?

Emmanuelle: (laughs)

Ghislain: It’s a month-and-a-half of each of us on our own end, writing and then crunch time for the Fringe. It’s been an intense writing session after intense writing session, in coffee shops, the living room…

Emmanuelle: In the basement! (laughs)

Ghislain: Yup, writing everywhere, a million annotations and trying to make this a coherent thing and not just a stream of thought.

Frantz: So "Icepick" is definitely a narrative…

Ghislain: We played with the chronology and other elements a bit to make sure it stayed true to its poetic roots. But it is definitively a narrative.

Frantz: Why that title?

Emmanuelle: Why “Icepick-moé l’coeur” ? 'Cause I like a strong title - the kind that you see first when you scan through a theatrical pamphlet. We had the title (ready) almost before we had the show.

Ghislain: You came up with the title while we were discussing about taboos and punchy images. One of our teachers used to say: “Theater is not a glass of water, it’s a shot of vodka”.

“Icepick” is that very shot. It’s a strong visual title with a taste that stays in your throat.

Frantz: What flavor of slush would best describe your show?

Ghislain: Windshield washer, it’ll survive at – 40°.

Emmanuelle: (laughs) “Icepick-moé l’coeur”  is an eye catcher and happens to be a bilingual title.

Frantz: Is the the play bilingual?

Emmanuelle: No, it’s all in French.

Ghislain: From what I understand the directing and visuals are truly something to behold, but you need strong bases in French to understand what’s going on.

Frantz: How did your academical parcourt influence this production?

Ghislain: I think in our press kit, there is a section about coming (to the show) to have fun with Sharon Stone …

Emmanuelle: In our segment at the Fringe-for-All, we invited people to scream their love of mountain climbing and Sharon Stone.

Ghislain: We had to make a reference to “Basic Instinct”. And that’s one thing that my background in Cinema – what I was studying in University before switching to Literature – really ingrained in me: intertextuality.

Wow, that’s a mouthful. We also integrated classics from Quebec musical culture in the text.

Frantz: So we can expect those classics to play during the show?

Emmanuelle: Actually, it is all an original soundtrack by Andréa Marsolais-Roy, who is in the same Class as me in Production. She was at the Conservatory of Music (at the NTS) before that and graduated with a Masters in Electro-Acoustic Composition. She’s an expert, making for us an incredible Original Soundtrack.

Frantz: So how big is your team?

Emmanuelle: Where about 10 people total, including two actors, all at the NTS right now, except for Ghislain.

There’s Benjamin at graphic design, Mathieu for lighting, Elsa as our Director of Production, Francis as our Technical Director, Mélanie for costumes, props, decor and choreography…

Frantz: How about the actors?

Ghislain: There was a total of six or seven actors that were interested.

Emmanuelle: Patrice stood out from its first audition.

Ghislain: He communicated from the get-go that he was ready to get truly involved.

Emmanuelle: Elisabeth quickly grew on us. And she’s the perfect match for the role.

Frantz: Why the Fringe?

Emmanuelle: 'Cause applications were open and I needed to create something (for the festival).

Ghislain: I was charmed by the whole “ludique” (i.e. carefree and playful) aspect of it all; and the fact that it is a lottery, anyone and everyone can end up there.

Frantz: What show would you recommend at the Fringe?

Ghislain: “Die Mutter” and “SHY SHY IN SPACE”

Emmanuelle: “In fur wrapped” from Farouche Factory, our comrades from the NTS

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“Icepick-moé l’coeur” premieres at the Fringe on Saturday June 13th, 5:15pm at the Studio Multimédia du Conservatoire. Learn more on this play by visiting their Fringe Festival Page here.

Frantz-Patrice Séïde Cameau is part of CJLO’s Official Fringe Team covering the sights and sounds from the 2015 St-Ambroise Montreal Fringe Festival.

You can contact Frantz by via email: lobster.mtl@gmail.com

Photo credit: Graph Design by Benjamin Lamingo, who designed the poster for this show.

Special thanks to Joana Cumo (of Je Suis TBA / Charts and Crafts) for providing additional help for this piece.