Dominie Boutin in ‘La voix humaine’, Photo by Samantha Gaetz
Presented by Opéra Homardé
La Voix Humaine (The Human Voice) is a highly conceptual staging of Francis Poulenc’s one-act opera. Originally adapted from a Jean Cocteau play, this solo features a woman referred to only as Elle (She), who has a tormented final phone conversation with her lover before taking her own life. Depressing stuff, but director Bridget Ramzy dials it up a notch by trapping Elle (Mezzo-soprano Dominie Boutin) in a hospital room, succumbing to the isolation and disabling effects of some unnamed, severe health diagnosis.
Nestled into Tarragon Theatre’s exceptionally cozy solo room, we are confronted with Boutin pacing about the hospital fixtures—a bed, divider curtain and IV stand. Not being familiar with this opera, I found it hard to connect properly because, at the performance I attended, the surtitles were projected too low and most were partially obscured.
Through fragments of her desperate conversation—the phone always seeming to cut out, increasing her frustrated isolation—it seemed to me that she fixates on mundane, disparate remembrances. We get the sense the lover on the other end of the line is trying to fade gently out of her life and that she, in response, pivots between coaxing and wrenching.
The minimalist accompaniment by a single pianist (Christina Faye) should increase the intimacy, but the mostly unreadable surtitles had me feeling perpetually removed, despite Boutin conveying very acute anguish. So much of the point of this staging relies upon our knowledge of Boutin and Ramzy’s intentions—partially revealed in the show’s description, which highlights structural failings in our healthcare system that disproportionately affect disabled communities.
The references to the recent expansion of MAiD (Medical Assistance in Death)—unreadable at the performance, available in the press notes—addresses the need for further expansion of care and social resources for people with disabilities. If you know what you’re looking for, you can find it in Ramzy’s production, but overall, it was hard for me to sit through this short work. Perhaps I just don’t care for this opera; I certainly didn’t connect to any of the score.