Stir Cheat Sheet: 5 things to know about De glace (From Ice) at PuSh Festival
The family-friendly piece by Quebec’s L’eau du bain theatre company is an immersive experience
De glace (From Ice). Photo by Jonathan Lorange
PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, Théâtre la Seizième, and Vancouver International Children’s Festival present De glace (From Ice) from January 31 to February 2 at the Roundhouse Community Arts & Recreation Centre
AT THIS YEAR’S PuSh International Performing Arts Festival, a frozen, surreal otherworld will come to life on-stage in a production copresented by Théâtre la Seizième and the Vancouver International Children’s Festival. De glace (From Ice) comes from Quebec’s L’eau du bain theatre company and offers an immersive experience for viewers. Here are five things to know before you go.
It’s based on a 1963 Nordic novel by Tarjei Vesaas
Widely considered the legendary Norwegian writer’s masterpiece, The Ice Palace tells the tale of Siss and Unn, two 11-year-old friends who have only spent one evening in each other’s company but who form an inextricable bond. The tale takes place in a frostbitten landscape in the depths of the Norwegian winter, when Unn disappears into a frozen waterfall at the mouth of a lake. Siss remains in the land of the living, desperately clinging to the memory of her soulmate.
It’s the first time that L’eau du bain has created a show based on a narrative text
L’eau du bain’s Claude Régy has said what stands out in Vesaas’s writing is the mystery it contains. “Northern literature is nourished…by an ancient mythology where life and death, speech and silence, wisdom and madness, night and day, have barely visible borders,” Régy says.
It’s a multisensory, immersive production
Fog and fractal light are key elements of the set design and end up blurring the line between audience and the stage. Spectators are equipped with headphones, guided through the story by ethereal voices and vivid sounds of nature, like howling winds and cracking ice.
Critics have praised it
Le Devoir wrote that the piece “leaves the impression of being in a dream”, “leaves the viewer wanting more”, and “exerts an undeniable spell”.
L’eau du bain specializes in immersive shows
Based in Chelsea in the Outaouais region of Quebec, the company has a proud history of designing productions where sound, play, light, and music are intertwined. The creative team of artistic director Anne-Marie Ouellet, lighting designer Nancy Bussières, and sound designer Thomas Sinou is behind other works such as the critically acclaimed White Out and La chambre des enfants (Children’s Room), an immersive diptych that created a white-out-style storm in two different bedrooms, permeating the entire theatre. 
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