Gare de Matapédia, Vaste et Vagues & Fonderie Darling
Queue de Poisson is a bilingual performance project developed during a nearly three-month residency at the Gare de Matapédia in Quebec. The work draws inspiration from a 1989 New York Times article recounting a fishing expedition on the Matapédia River—its water temperatures, currents, and the triumphs and failures of fly-fishing for salmon. This story becomes a springboard for an immersive exploration of desire, historical investigation, role-play, and seduction, all in dialogue with the culture of Gaspesian fishing.
During the residency, the project evolved through encounters with local fishing guides, as well as scavenging trips to flea markets in search of clues, artefacts, photographs, books, old cassette tapes, and records. Reflection on femininity, aging, drinking, and longing intertwines with the creation of infused vodkas, the making of fishing flies, and movement research. These collected objects and experiences form the core of a performance that envelops the audience in a destabilizing, symbolically charged environment.
This one woman show unfolds within an installation composed of martini glasses, fishing gear, laboratory equipment, and a dead fish.
Delivered as an epistolary narrative, it weaves letters addressed to a compulsive fisherman, a small Montreal bar, and the Matapédia River itself, shifting fluidly between English and French. The performance offers a poetic meditation on memory, desire, and human interaction with both landscape and ritual.
Queue de Poisson was présented at the Gare de Matapédia (Matapédia, QC) , Vaste et Vague (Carleton Sur Mer, QC) and the Fonderie Darling (Montréal, QC).
Documentation curtosy of la Gare de Matapédia, Vaste et Vagues, P Latour and the Fonderie Darling