Review: (Montreal) Organon

Obscurity                          
by Élaine Charlebois

In a word, Organon was…confusing. 

A performance piece created by Alexander Wilson and Mélanie Verville, Organon attempted to shock the audience with its eerie sound effects and haunting, alien-like costumes. Having tried to de-code, without any luck, what the entire show was about, I left Théâtre La Chapelle feeling unsettled and confused by my experience. 

Throughout the piece, main performers Mélanie Verville and Catherine Cédilot slowly (and silently) walked, slithered and hopped across the stage in repetitive sequences, making it hard to fight sleepiness in spite of the loud soundtrack of electronic sounds that were constantly reverberating in the room. While I hoped to be enlightened at the end of the piece when the performers finally spoke, the unclear dialogue left me all the more perplexed. That said, though the lighting and sound did manage to provoke an emotional response at times, the overall production of Organon was awkward and inaccessible.  

Feb. 4 - 8