Disco 3000

Momentum Theatre's latest production Diskotek looks into the future past of clubbing

by RAF KATIGBAK

The premise is simple. It's the year 3005 and humans have no emotions. Dr. Letisius Tarminni, a 450-year-old poet/scientist, is holding a conference on his theories and discoveries about the 21st-century mating and courtship rituals centred around a large, reflective sphere he believes was worshipped 1,000 years ago. Through 4D (the dimensions being music, light, body and emotion) "pixelloid holograms" (actors), Tarminni conducts experiments and reproduces what he supposes went on in these "temples of love" (night clubs).

Okay, maybe the premise isn't so straightforward, but it's just the kind of mind-bending, risk-taking, immersive theatre Momentum Productions are given to. While previous in-situ performances have taken audiences to graveyards, hospitals and laboratories, their latest piece, Diskotek, is set in a staple of Montreal's afterhour club scene, Aria.

"In 3005, we believe the disco ball was once a planet or star," explains Réal Bossé, who plays Tarminni. "It had different phases which affected humans and it needed the music and the lights to exist and become the temple where human beings meet each other and find love." During the 90-minute performance, Bossé - dressed in a futuristic, all-white, pseudo-space-Elvis jumpsuit - speaks in an indecipherable made-up language called "giblish" while the host of the evening, Désmoisine Viraoube (played by Sylvie Moreau), translates and interprets Tarminni's findings.

The Momentum troupe has taken full advantage of the sophisticated sound and light set-up at Aria as a launch pad for their latest production. "We invite the audience to become part of the Discotek," explains Bossé. "The audience is free to choose their point of view and they're encouraged to dance, drink and enjoy themselves."

As in a real club, music is the backbone of the experience, a responsibility that fell on the shoulders of musical director Jean-Frédéric Messier. "The open-ended concept of the play allowed me to be free with the music as well," explained Messier (aka DJ FM). "It follows that the music is a hybrid of rock, disco, acid, house techno and downtempo, but always with an upbeat and driving energy that keeps the crowd moving."

"There's a lot of stuff that happens in dance clubs, not only good stuff, but bad stuff as well," states Bossé, "and we wanted to explore that. With each act, each phase of the disco ball, the 12 actors - representing archetypal characters we find in the club, like the Prince, the Sex Pot, the Buzz Addict and the Party Monster - explore various emotions, like love, solitude, egocentricity, searching and so on. And while my character supposes a lot of things, we must remember that he's only guessing and sometimes his experiments go wrong. The results are sometimes funny and sometimes tragic, but always raw.

"When you go into a disco you expect a lot. Some expect to change their life and find true love. Often they're wrong. Often it goes the other way and you finish your night alone or with a one-night stand. There's a lot of hope and expectation, and you can see it in the eyes of all the actors. It's a bit weird and it's a bit mixed up. Diskotek exists at the nexus between tragedy, comedy and dreams, with wall-to-wall music."

At Aria nightly until Saturday, April 30 (except Sunday, April 24, and Monday, April 25), 8 p.m., $25 ($20 for students),
reservations: 527-7240