Sunday Feature: Amélie Poirier-Aubry on Belzébrute's Mr P

(photo by Georges Dutil)

When Belzébrute meets Mister Potato Head
by Amélie Poirier-Aubry

Belzébrute defines itself as a theatre band that enjoys creating great shows on a small budget. Through its creation, the band explores theatre objects, puppetry, masks, image poetry and shadow play with carefree and contagious enthusiasm. The band creates imaginative, bold and clever shows, jam-packed with references to pirates (Shavirez, Gypsy of the Sea) or Samurais (Manga) that know no limits. At the end of January 2014, Belzébrute Theatre Band will present Mr P, its latest creation, at Gesù Theatre in Montreal. Following its run at the 2013 Montreal FRINGE Festival, Belzébrute is putting on a revamped version of the show, a theatrical work filled with humour and delightful madness that tells the untold story of Mr. Potato Head's spectacular rise and fall. Amélie Poirier-Aubry, musical and communications director for Belzébrute, tells us a bit about the show and its creative process. 

For more than 15 years, Jocelyn Sioui, founding member of Belzébrute Theatre Band, couldn't get rid of the vision in his head of Mr. Potato Head singing Mexico by Luis Mariano. The creator's fantasy spent a long time in the dark corners of his memory before finally appearing on stage in 2013. Well, sort of. In Mr P, you won't see Mr. Potato Head sing Mexico, but that's pretty well the only thing he doesn't do!