“The institute”: credible and invested actors

The text takes up the tone and codes of the summer theaters of yesteryear, but it suffers from 'an incomprehensible break in tone between the first and second part.

To set up their characters, the authors abuse a schoolboy humor that makes viewers' ears curl in 2022. People with schizophrenia are ridiculed, a young person suffering from Tourette's syndrome is excessively caricatured, not to mention the reception reserved for the transsexual character. It's not bad, but we thought we had gone beyond these ancestral clichés to make people laugh.

A scene featuring Stéphane Jacques, Joëlle Paré-Beaulieu and Marc St-Martin.

In the second part, without really understanding why and how, the character of Jean-Guy launches into a long, almost moving tirade on the empathy and compassion of the Institute's staff towards these people suffering from health problems. mentally, while asking the question of what society should do with people like them. This monologue comes as if to excuse everything exposed earlier, but is that enough?

Excellent actors

The actors do not, however, suffer from no lack of talent. Marc St-Martin is as comfortable in the role of Jean-Guy as he is effective in that of the young La Tourette. 

Henri Chassé's schizophrenic is as self-effacing as his Claudette is virile . Stéphane Jacques, France Parent and Joëlle Paré-Beaulieu also multiply the roles and costume changes at a frantic pace with rigor and accuracy.

We are almost surprised at the salutes of not seeing only five actors on stage, we had the impression that there were at least twice as many to embody the multitude of characters running in all directions.