Last Thursday night at Théâtre Prospero, I was ushered into a tiny room in a dark basement, and into a dreamlike world of mystery and horror. Based on the Japanese novel of the same name, Les Abeilles is a creepy tale about a nameless woman whose cousin disappears after she helps him find a room at the residence she herself stayed in while she was a studying at the local university. The residence is run by a lonely and disabled old man who seems to develop unhealthy obsessions with his billets. Once the woman puts her cousin in this strange, quiet, wheelchair-bound man’s care, she never sees him again. The whole play has an intense and surreal quality to it, from the nameless characters, to the bizarre sound, lighting and makeup effects: the residence director’s deformities were nothing short of stomach-churning. For such a simple storyline, producer and actress Izabel Kerr did an amazing job infusing Les Abeilles with subtleties which added significant depth to the play, such as unmistakable sexual tension between the woman and her cousin, and artistic elements from Kerr’s own native culture. The eerie feel which ran like an undercurrent throughout this show left me feeling shuddery and nervous long after I had left the theatre. If you feel like getting spooked, I highly recommend spending a night at Théâtre Prospero, where Les Abeilles will be running till March 3.
-Vic
