This Wednesday, April 8, at Théâtre Outremont, was the opening of Héritières, a show imagined by composer and singer Karine Pion, who we’ve known for some time as the lead singer of Belle et Bum and a member of the group Galaxie. As she opens, she explains that the project was born during the pandemic, and that she had long toyed with the idea of an all-female, multi-performer show. Indeed, none of the 20 performers on stage (plus the stage management artists) are men. A look back at an evening of feminine celebration.
The show opens with the soloists: Erika Angell, Simone Bournival, Marie-Christine Depestre, Coral Egan, Soleil Launière, Kim Richardson, Mamselle Ruiz, Meryem Saci, Malika Tirolien and Karen Young. In chorus around fire-like lighting, they follow Karine’s lead in an almost dance-like fashion.
The pleasure and bond between the singers is palpable, right from the start.
This is followed by an intergenerational journey for women, with recordings, memories and confidences from loved ones punctuating the narrative, often with humor and tenderness. Accompanied by double bass, cello, viola, violins, saxophone, drums and sometimes guitar, we hear the performers’ mothers, sisters and grandmothers share their visions and memories of what it means to be a woman.
There’s a jazzy duet, a creative and sensitive drum solo, engaged lyrics, a surprising canon of vowels, slam-poetry and a magnificent Spanish song that transports us for a moment to the warmth of the South. And let’s not forget the power of Kim Richardson, who, even without amplification at times, moves through us with the same resonance as her miked colleagues. All this skilfully highlighted, notably with memorable side lighting that creates an oversized shadow of the performer on the audience wall. Very theatrical.
All in all, it a very fine evening “to the rhythm of legends and traumas,” in which Quebec women’s talent takes pride of place and where the committed tone is a reminder that victories and women’s rights are never easily won and that the struggle to achieve them is never over.
