HOSPITALITY 3: Individualism Was a Mistake
2008
Caroline Dubois, Claudia Fancello, and Jacob Wren in HOSPITALITY 3: Individualism Was A Mistake at Usine C in Montreal (2008). Photo: David Jacques
Claudia Fancello and Caroline Dubois in HOSPITALITY 3: Individualism Was A Mistake at Usine C in Montreal (2008). Photo: David Jacques
Caroline Dubois, Jacob Wren, and Claudia Fancello in HOSPITALITY 3: Individualism Was A Mistake at Usine C in Montreal (2008). Photo: David Jacques
Jacob Wren, Caroline Dubois, and Claudia Fancello in HOSPITALITY 3: Individualism Was A Mistake at Usine C in Montreal (2008). Photo: Mathieu Chartrand
The audience at the end of HOSPITALITY 3: Individualism Was A Mistake at Usine C in Montreal (2008). Photo: David Jacques
Claudia Fancello peering from behind the table. Photo: Sylvain Baumann
Our culture’s over-emphasis on individualism prevents us from effectively working together for political change. In positively demonstrating how the three performers collaborate spontaneously, in real time – each struggling with their own individualism but at times experiencing moments of pure synchronicity – the performance allows the spectator to reflect: where in their daily lives might they discover similar experiences of working together, and what might the political efficacy of such collaborative efforts eventually be?
We gather the public and artists in a casual way for a reflection on our skills to work together. A table with juice and snacks for all, another one full of records and musical instruments. Other tables welcome the spectators and collect their answers on Post-it notes to the questions which we ask them: How do you decide when to fight and when to compromise? What do you learn from your enemies? How do you get power? When is the best time to lie?
When we put ourselves in movement, play music or tell our stories, we offer the strength and potential of balance which is the heart of any collaboration, of all the shared gestures. The remarkable openness of the structure – with every show uncannily different yet also loosely the same – allows for a new performative freedom. Each time, this freedom is further developed, engaged with and refined, challenging performers and audiences with its natural disequilibrium.
This project is part of the HOSPITALITY cycle, an extended period of research on the theme of hospitality.
Created and performed by Caroline Dubois, Claudia Fancello, and Jacob Wren. Sound: Radwan Ghazi Moumneh. Lighting: Philippe Dupeyroux. Technical direction: Mathieu Chartrand. Interns: Chélanie Beaudin-Quintin and Amélie Lapointe.
A co-production with Forum Freies Theater (Düsseldorf), in collaboration with Usine C, Studio 303, Playwrights’ Workshop (Montréal) and Harbourfront Centre World Stage (Toronto). With the support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the ministère de la Culture, des Communications et de la Condition féminine du Québec, the Conseil des arts de Montréal, and the Kunststiftung NRW (Arts Foundation of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany).
Toronto, Harbourfront Centre World Stage • Montréal, Usine C • Stockholm, Perfect Performance Festival • Malmö, Inkonst • Vienna, Brut • Düsseldorf, Forum Freies Theater • Montréal, Studio 303/SPARK • Mannheim, Zeitraumexit/Wunder der Prärie Festival • Oslo, Black Box/Ultima Music Festival • Trondheim, Teaterhuset Avant Garden • Nottingham, Dance4/Nottingham Contemporary • Cardiff, Chapter Arts Centre • Tallinn, Nu Performance Festival • Saint-Jean-Port-Joli, La Biennale de sculpture
PME-ART’s genial, intimate HOSPITALITY 3: Individualism Was a Mistake breaks down spectacle to ask some big questions. PME-ART courts both the avant-garde and populism, serving up material in an open and loose fashion, underscoring intimacy and pushing aside seduction.
– Ève Dumas, La Presse, Montréal
There’s an improv nature to the performance, a sweetly engaging quality to the work of the trio of creator/actors that doesn’t aim for narrative or logical coherence but does suggest the disparity between separation and connectedness. […] Is this vision of interlocking pieces how we’re to think about society? And is the subtitle of the piece an ironic jab? […] But I found lots in which to get involved. Best of all is the performers’ playful nature, which of course is reflected in the piece itself. HOSPITALITY 3 may look at some serious philosophical matters, but it does so in the most light-hearted manner.
– Jon Kaplan, Now Magazine, Toronto
Montréal’s acclaimed multidisciplinary PME-ART wants to better understand the world through a unique approach to theatre. Under the co-artistic directorship of Jacob Wren and Sylvie Lachance, the group has redefined the intersection of where performer meets audience.