VIOLETTE
Violette welcomes you into her space. She lets you enter the privacy of her room, and then of her imagination. Only you. Step into her place as into the home of a friend; put on your VR headset; see a universe of snow and forest materialize in front of your eyes; and become the sole witness to Violette’s untold story, both magical and tragic. Finally, take your headset off and return to “real life”. You may never look at this world – the one you share with Violette and the rest of us – quite the same way again.
Joe Jack & John continues to explore and innovate; this time by developing a novel dramatic form that incorporates the use of digital art to offer a new kind of intimate experience, for an audience of one. At the intersection of virtual reality and theatre, VIOLETTE presents a universe where fiction and reality are interwoven to give life to unprecedented human connections. In this piece exploring themes of isolation and consent, each participant is given the chance to enter one woman’s unique inner world and access her unusual perspective on a reality often experienced by marginalized women.
See the company’s schedule for upcoming performance dates.
Duration : 25 minutes
Set Designer and Director: Catherine Bourgeois
Author: Amélie Dumoulin
Performers: Stephanie Boghen, Tamara Brown, Stéphanie Colle and Anne Tremblay
Costume Designer: Amy Keith
Sound Designer: Éric Forget
Set Design Assistants: Noémie Avidar and Alizée Millot
Direction of Photography/VFX Superviser: Sébastien Gros
Compositor/animator: Genevieve Coulombe
Developer: Peter Wilkinson
Editor: Martin Morissette
Integration / VR Experience Consultant: UNLTD inc.
Translator: Leanna Brodie
Technical Director and Stage Manager: Audrey Belzile
Assistant Stage Manager and Rehearsal Coach: Aude Lachapelle
Production Manager: Pénélope Bourque
Set building: Sophie Bergeron and Gauvin Fabrique
Virtual Reality Consultant: Olivia McGilchrist
Graphic Designer: Gris Gris Design
Subtitles Consultant: Services linguistiques CB
VISUAL STORY – click HERE
The Process: On arrival, you will proceed to the box office. You will be given a sticker that you will place on yourself. At the specified time, you will be given instructions about where to meet Violette. (At Espace Libre, you will need to take the elevator up.) Violette will greet you and lead you to a booth where the virtual reality experience will take place. After introducing herself and her story, she will guide you in putting on the VR headset (which will have been disinfected beforehand). The virtual reality segment runs for 17 minutes. After that, you will remove the headset and find yourself alone in the booth. You will then leave the booth and the theatre by following the designated path.
Trigger Warning/Disclaimer: This work addresses the theme of sexual violence and of the other abuses that women with disabilities may experience. However, there are no graphic scenes of these acts in this piece.
Accessibility: VIOLETTE‘s performances are accessible to persons with reduced mobility and wheelchair users. Staff on site will guide you to the adapted washrooms, if needed.
The
work is not available in LSQ, nor in ASL, nor in self-description. A version
with spatialized subtitles for Deaf or hard-of-hearing people of the virtual
reality part of the work is available in English and French upon request.
Please contact us if you wish to receive the text beforehand or if you have any other questions: [email protected] or 514-279-9821.
For more details – including COVID-related information – click HERE.
Photos : Charles Lafrance and Michel St-Jean
Sanitary measures
- The virtual reality headset and the headphones used during the experience are sterilized after each participant using a Cleanbox, an independently lab tested device that employs UVC light to eliminate coronavirus bacteria.
- All the objects and surfaces that the audience will come in contact with during the experience are disinfected after each use with quaternary ammonium, steam or disinfectant wipes.