Far Side of the Moon

1. Far Side of the Moon • By Robert Lepage

3. Clips from the Theatre Production of Far Side of the Moon La Face cachée de la lune de Robert Lepage Actor: Robert Lepage http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ORHjMqC3Cg4&NR=1 La Face cachée de la Lune / The Far Side of the Moon Actor: Yves Jacques http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_HI70pLYhc

4. Different themes in Far Side of the Moon will be showcased in this presentation and they will be compared with the Movie and the Play version of Far Side of the Moon V E R S U S Play Movie

5. Themes and Interests in Far Side of the Moon • Theatre and film techniques (RIA) • Horizontal space, Film, and vertical space, play.(Emily) • Andre and Philippe represented as different sides of the moon (MARK) • Isolation connection with the past (AARON) • Fishbowl symbolism and narcissism (MEGAN)

6. Theatre production vs. Film adaptation • THEATRE: Aspects of Lepage’s theatricality are instability of narrative structure and transience of form: • Lepage does not write his texts, but improvises them. He believes in coincidence and in theatre as a place for meeting • The play evolves with every presentation of the performance narrative, based on the audience’s reactions • Evolution and interchangeability of stage productions based on the geographical location and response from the audience • FILM: An established narrative was constructed in order to have a fluid and a proper sense of direction • Wrote a very specific script in order to lay the vision out as clearly and precise as possible • Film has to evolve into different phases, touching on many prominent themes or issues

7. Productions Posters of Far Side of the Moon From Around the World France Korea London

8. Spain United States

9. Theory Quoted from a 2007 interview with UC Berkley- Film: -Horizontal -Man interacts with environment -Falseness Stage: -Vertical -Man becomes self reflective -Directness *Proscenium acts as a purgatory

10. Technique/ Interdisciplinarity Puppetry: - Utilized in the one-man stage version of the play in order to embody characters which Lepage himself could not simultaneously portray. “In TFSOTM, Lepage creates a perceptual state for the spectator which parallels this effect. Moments of the performance where puppets, puppet-objects and the live performance share the foreground show contrasting sets of signs, which distort each other. This requires the spectator to organize the perceptions arising from the interaction. This intangible element of the experience - the spectator's perceptual state - determines how the simultaneous presences of actor, puppet and object are looked at. In this sense, simultaneity on stage blurs the boundaries between modes of representation, creating a 'perceptual state' that is characterized by semiotic distortion. Such distortion is a fertile territory for exploration, as it allows Lepage to enter into the realm of the uncanny.” (Reynolds, Acting with Puppets and Objects Representation and perception in Robert Lepage's: The Far Side of the Moon) -Cosmonaut transcends time, (connectivity). Projection: Stage Production Examples- -Washing Machine -Bike ride, (recording video) -Weather map * Many of the scenes would be inaccessible from the audience perspective without the projections. They complete the production. Transition: Film Examples- - Fishbowl reflects Philippe upside down into the apartment - Video of mother’s shoes becomes flashback to childhood - Focus on mother’s womb becomes spaceman attached to ship - Transitions to Philippe watching video in museum *Different effect in live theater event http://lacaserne.net/index2.php/exmachina/gallery/the_far_side_of_the_moon/#id=album-33&num=0

11. Technique/ Interdisciplinarity

12. Layers Realistic -Thesis argumentation - Mother’s death - Employment Illusionary -Drug usage - Philippe on the moon - Defying gravity (as transcendence) * These layers exist simultaneously within the work and act to actualize different interactive realities. On the stage these realities are in and of Philippe, whereas in the film the transcendence attained is more closely related to environment. http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi2158362905/

13. Sexuality -Becomes a pervasive theme throughout the work, possibly reflects Lepage’s personal struggle with sexual orientation and gender roles prescribed by society. Examples: -Embodies both female and male roles in solo stage production - Andre and Philippe as polar opposites based on sexual orientation - Constantly reliving childhood, extremely attentive to relationship with mother, yet dysfunctional with other women. (i.e. phone call). * Different representations within each media

14. Brothers as Different Sides of the Moon • Although there are many similarities between the stage version and the film adaptation of French Canadian playwright Robert Lepage’sThe Far Side of The Moon or originally La Face Cachée de la Lune, the most interesting is idea of opposites and contradictions. • As seen in the film as well as the stage production, Lepage casted only one actor to play both the two contrasting brothers, Philippe and Andre Roberge. Lepage’s use of dual roles has a deeper meaning in that it introduces the idea that nothing can exist without its opposite.

15. Brothers as Different Sides of the Moon • This concept can be taken one step further, as another interpretation is that each brother represents a different hemisphere of the moon. Andre is the socially and physically healthier brother. He is an easily relatable character, as he says what he feels, disregarding Philippe’s feelings. Andre’s ability to relate to the world makes him the bright and illuminating side of the moon, the side always visible to the Earth. Philippe, on the other hand, is a shy, tentative, and passive-aggressive scientist just trying to survive. He has been damaged with years of daunting experiences, like watching his mother go into labour as a child, as well as developing cancer as a teenager. Therefore, Philippe is the side of the moon permanently faced away from the Earth, damaged by space debris for countless years. Philippe is the far side of the moon.

16. Brothers as Different Sides of the Moon • Unlike most writers today who try and capture their thoughts and opinions in their work that they do not necessarily have or feel, in The Far Side of The Moon, Robert Lepage writes about what he knows. Lepage, like the more eccentric brother Philippe, also struggled with many hardships in his life. At the age of only five, he was diagnosed with a disease that caused him to lose all hair across his entire body. He was always a shy child, which triggered many altercations in his well-being, including undergoing depression during his adolescent life. This shines light on another pair of opposite’s present when dealing with Lepage’sThe Far Side of The Moon. Real life happenings vs. stage production/film.

17. Isolation • Isolation is a main theme in both the stage production and the film adaptation • Philippe isolates himself from his surroundings, his brother, and the world • He seems to be afraid of the outside world • He takes refuge in his own mind • He chooses to focus on his past • He lives in his childhood home • He keeps all his mother’s old clothes and personal belongings • He keeps the goldfish • “He [Lepage] cleverly blended and embellished his early memories and life experiences- his childhood impressions of the moon landing, his feelings for his mother, the tragedy of her death, and his turbulent relationship with the media and stardom.”

18. Isolation • Flashbacks • Nearly every flashback in the film are related to his childhood in some way • He focuses on the lunar landing and the space race in most falshbacks • Even his thesis is about the lunar landing and the space race • “Childhood memories and the race to the moon by two rival nations are recurring themes in a fundamental question of whether we are alone in the universe.”

19. Fishbowl Symbolism - “His films multiply viewpoints, optical effects and special effects, all of which highlight the apparatus behind the production of images. Like the lunar probe, which revealed the hidden side of the moon, reflexive strategies suggest that images are more than surfaces.” - “We find in La face cache´e de la lunean optical effect created by the refraction of an image in the water of a fishbowl” - “He demonstrates that cinema, like science, possesses two sides: an illusionist one that fascinates and seduces, and a pragmatic one, which stirs the intellect.” - “The fishbowl filled with water, which acts as a lens inverting the image of Philippe, relates to optical physics.”

20. Fishbowl Symbolism - “Perhaps her death makes him feel alone in the universe, or trapped, like a red fish that swims without any goal in his fishbowl. Later in the film, Philippe shoots a home movie made for alien life forms, in which he expresses this feeling: ‘Look, here on Earth we know the universe is infinite, yet we live as if in a fishbowl.’”

21. Fishbowl Symbolism - “Beethoven, their mother's goldfish, has to be looked after by them after her death. The goldfish reminds us of the physical absence of the mother while simultaneously recalling her metonymically.” - When the fish dies "The mother's absence is now real absence, her final connection to life is gone. Lepage undercuts the profundity of the moment: the line communicating the goldfish's death is delivered in a way that recalls the death of the real-life composer: 'Beethoven's dead.' Here Lepage foregrounds the actor/object relation, stylizing emotional expression to create a bittersweet moment of bathos.”

22. Narcissism • The definition of narcissism from the Oxford English dictionary is ‘excessive interest in or admiration of oneself and one's physical appearance’. • Philippe’s thesis is about narcissism but more specifically its about how he thinks space travel was inspired by narcissism. • “Men don’t look at mirrors because of narcissism but a desire to know himself and if there was no desire there would be no science. No art.”