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A Chair in Love [2005]
Résumé Livret écrit en anglais. À son réveil, Truman, un cinéaste tendance angoisse urbaine, lit la revue de presse de son film présenté en première la veille. Il y est dépeint comme un génie qui « peut nous faire croire en un coït entre un couteau et une cuillère. » Envahi par un besoin désespéré d'amour, il se précipite à son studio et tombe amoureux de sa chaise. Son chien devient jaloux et les complications commencent... Extrait « DOG : Master, Master, | people talk, people whisper. | Truman is having an affair with a chair! | What do you say? | An affair with a chair! | A man with a chair! | Disgusting Shocking! | Shocking! Disgusting! | Truman is having an affair with a chair! | A man! A chair! A man! A chair! | Immoral! Shameful! | He's a sick man, put him in jail! | Destroy that chair, burn it! | A chair! A man! A man! A chair! | The worst thing I have ever heard! » Revue de presse « A gloriously dotty, charming and entertaining opera romp… In a word, brilliant. » The Stage
« This off-the-wall gem is far from dull… Along with composer John Metcalf and director Keith Turnbull, Tremblay has concocted a comic opera whose splendidly daffy elements - juxtaposed with moments of reflection and genuine poignancy - borrow heavily from the worlds of animation, film and musical theatre… The plot, such as it is, is simple: urban filmmaker Truman (played as a sort of Johnny Depp-style wunderkind by Pierre-Étienne Bergeron) falls in love with a Chair (Charlotte Ellett) which sends his faithful Dog (Michael Douglas Jones) into a whirlpool of jealousy and despair. The Dogtor (Fides Krucker, who also doubles as Truman's worryingly suggestive Doctor) informs the Dog that he is suffering from toysickness, and this opens up the way for a multitude of surreal exchanges…at which it would take a heart of stone not to smile. » The Western Mail
« An inspired example of contemporary comic opera » Buzz Magazine
« This is an opera for the 21st Century, a contemporary work which mixes the theatre of the absurd with cartoon land. But an opera it is and a very funny one too… Musically it is a delight and there are some tremendous performances from the four-strong cast… A hugely entertaining and fast-paced piece… A delight » South Wales Evening Post
« Truly engaging and touching! As Metcalf's music transformed from jaunty, intricately woven threads into lyrically expressive passages, it was the readily identifiable emotions that held our attention. Metcalf's commitment to breaking the stranglehold of operatic convention is embodied in two of his decisions: dispensing with a conductor and bringing the musicians (the brilliant wind quintet Ensemble Pentaèdre) on stage. And the music-theatre philosophy of Canadian director Keith Turnbull was evident in the clear-cut concept. » The Guardian
« The clever visuals - including smartly executed projected images and wacky references to the kind of manic violence seen in cartoons - never fail to hit the right spot and Wales-based composer John Metcalf's barbed spidery musical score is exactly right for the work's unusual blend of classical traditions and popular culture… This is exactly the shot in the arm that the opera genre needs so badly…If zany, off-kilter humour can work so well in TV, film and in any other areas of stage entertainment, then why not in opera… ? » The Big Issue À propos de(s) l'auteur(s)
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