Theatre review: In Stallone, Paris-based actors deliver knockout performance
Lead Clotilde Hesme will be familiar to folks who caught the French crime thriller Lupin
Stallone. Photo by Huma Rosentalski
Stallone, produced by Le CENTQUATRE-PARIS and presented by Théâtre la Seizième, continues September 14 at 7:30 pm at Newmont Stage at the BMO Theatre Centre in French with English surtitles
OVER THE COURSE of the 75-minute Stallone, French actor Clotilde Hesme powers through the life story of Lise, starting from the woman’s mid 20s as a bored medical secretary to her later years as a successful doctor and happily married mother of two and beyond. The play, based on a short story by Emmanuèle Bernheim, moves as swiftly as Rocky would shuffle to deke punches at the height of his boxing career. There’s bounce to the script, mirrored by Hesme’s endurance-testing skipping as she takes on the dual role of lead character and narrator. But there’s also a dark shadow that follows Lise in the form of her obsession with Sylvester Stallone and that gives the play a psychologically chilling edge.
Anyone who caught Lupin will love the rare chance to catch Hesme on-stage in Vancouver; she played Juliette Pellegrini, the on-and-off paramour of Omar Sy’s Assane Diop, in the French crime thriller. Seeing her perform in the intimate venue of the BMO Theatre allows viewers to appreciate her skill even more; for instance, we can see her eyes well up when Lise appears to hold her second baby, at rest, her husband and other child by her side, describing the perfect happiness in her heart of that quiet moment. Hesme won a Moliere award for the role, France’s highest honour for acting, and it’s obvious why. Her presence is magnetic.
Pascal Sanglia has far fewer lines, many of them improvised, but he’s equally strong. He lends hilarity to some of the roles he has as people who come and go from Lise’s life. Consider the med-school pal who has an intricate system of organizing study material based on biological systems with coloured tabs as well as notes in pen and pencil; the on-the-spot description is elaborate, to say the least. When he’s not riffing off of Hesme’s words, Sanglia is playing a keyboard, from a chipper melody that depicts Lise’s quotidian life to the melancholic phrases that echo major turning points in her life. Then there’s the recurring “Eye of the Tiger” phrase, that famous dun… dun duh dun… dun dun dunhhhh. Sanglia contorts and plays with the C-minor section in clever ways that underscore key moves Lise makes and the motives behind them. And yes, you will have the tune still playing in your head after the show.
Director Fabien Gorgeart’s set design is savvy and simple. Hesme is on one side of the stage, Sanglia on the other. They’re at opposite corners of a big white square that is by turns a boxing ring, a movie theatre, and day-to-day boxes like doctor’s offices and Lise’s studio apartment.
It's unfortunate that Berhhaim’s story, first published in Le Monde in 2001 and set in the 1980s, feels outdated in a few ways. Feeling washed up, Lise says it’s “now or never” when she decides go back to school to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor; she’s all of 25 years old. Her father and her boyfriend both dismiss her, her dad laughing at the idea and her lover insisting she come to her senses and realize her limits. When she heads to a gym to take up boxing, inspired by the Italian Stallion in Rocky III, she’s the only woman in the place and the men around don’t take her seriously at first. Even four decades ago, such sexist views would have come across as insulting.
Nevertheless, Stallone offers a knockout round of performances, especially in Hesme’s hands—or rather Lise’s clenched fists. Vancouver and Princeton are the company's only North American tour stops. Tonight’s the last chance to catch it.
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