Coeur is magic, with a few kinks to work out
Exactly where director Robert Lepage is heading with his Jeux de cartes tetralogy remains unclear after viewing the North American première of Part 2, Coeur (Hearts), at Tohu.
With Lepage, however, arriving at the destination isn’t as important as the ride. This passenger found Coeur to be slower and longer than Part 1, Pique (Spades). This, however, failed to dampen my enthusiasm for continuing the voyage with Part 3, when it appears.
While Pique began with an Elvis wedding in contemporary Las Vegas, Coeur starts out with card tricks performed by illusionist Jean-Eugène Robert-Houdin (Olivier Normand) in 19th-century France. After the performance, which involves an Arab mind-reading “puppet”( Kathryn Hunter), Robert-Houdin is asked by the military to go to Algeria and dazzle the natives with his magic. He refuses, but not for long.
So much for long gowns and top hats. Suddenly we are in the present, in Quebec City, listening to a cab driver named Chaffik (Reda Guerinik) flirt with his passenger, Judith (Catherine Hughes), who teaches film at Université de Laval. She invites him to audit her course.
On opening night, this taxi scene was plagued by a glitch as the circular see-through curtain that’s the key scenic feature of Coeur failed to fully descend on cue.
Once the problem was solved, sketches of Quebec City flashed around the circular stage as Chaffik “drove.” Throughout the play, the curtain moves up or down, creating atmosphere or serving as a screen for vintage film footage.
As usual, Lepage’s visuals amaze. Many well-executed traditional magic tricks have been added to the mix.
The flow of the collectively created narrative, however, is often hampered by exposition dealing with French and Algerian history and involving figures best known in France, such as pioneer photographer Nadar (John Cobb).
Like the Cirque du Soleil’s ill-fated Iris in Los Angeles, Coeur seeks to pay tribute to French film innovator Georges Méliès (Louis Fortier), who is shown here purchasing Robert-Houdin’s theatre in Paris from a widow (Hunter again) reluctant to part with her husband’s shrine.
Not all of the scene transi- tions are equally swift. Sometimes we are distracted by the torsos of technicians at work as actors try to establish a scene. Others are deftly done, particularly the family scenes in Quebec City.
One moment we’re at the dinner table with Chaffik’s Algerian father and grandmother, the next we see the young couple trying to keep Judith’s parents happy. These scenes are hilarious, the stuff of sitcom.
Fortier is outrageously funny as Judith’s Québécois mother, while Ben Grant, as her husband, serves as anglo straight man.
The seven actors reinvent themselves again and again as different characters. Only two are consistently recognizable: Guerinik, who also plays Chaffik’s Algerian freedom-fighter grandfather and other Arab-speaking characters, and Hunter, whose throaty voice and diminutive stature single her out. This Olivier Award-winning British actor is a scene-stealer.
It must be noted that Pique was a road-tested piece, while Coeur only played Essen, Germany, before Montreal. Veteran Lepage fans know this means that it is not yet in peak form.
The Coeur playing time of 3½ hours (intermission included) will probably be reduced as the company works on the piece. Surtitles will eventually be used to help audiences connect with the complicated narrative. At present, the performance is mostly in French, with some Arabic and English and a dash of Italian. Jeux de cartes, Coeur, at Tohu, 2345 Jarry E. until Feb. 9. Tickets cost $25 to $65. Call 514-376-8648 or visit www.tohu.ca.