Review: Les 3 exils de Christian E

(photo credit: Nicola-Frank Vachon)

Me, Myself and I
by Shannon Christy
@schristy79

In this play, one guy alone on the stage successfully draws you into his world and shows you your own.

Les 3 exils de Christian E. is a one man show actually based on the experiences of actor Christian Essiambre and his own exiles: from his family, his old job and professional environment, and his past. 

This is a travelogue of a recently arrived immigrant from McKendrick, New Brunswick to Montreal. It develops as an introspection about the choices made when leaving the stability of a small town to try to make it in the big city, Montreal, and failing… and it is also a mystery and a family drama.  With all this at hand, it would be easy to assume that it is way too much for one man to handle but Christian Essiambre’s energy makes for a remarkable show and with humour to boot.


Christian E. makes us laugh all the way.

The humour comes through Christian’s personal perspective. Whether it is when speaking to his mother on the phone, ridiculing an Anglophone cyber-ally who can’t play a video game to save his life or imitating the numerous accents of French Canadians, Christian E. makes us laugh all the way. 

The play also serves as a useful reminder that Quebec is not the only place where Canadians speak French. Furthermore, just because you are a French-speaking Canadian does not mean you will succeed in Quebec. Christian’s personal experiences in Montreal are certainly similar to many recently arrived immigrants in Toronto or elsewhere, who need to live with the fact that they have left the love of their family and friends to be a stranger in a strange land and, in Christian’s case, failing because he does not speak with the correct strange voice.  

Christian Essiambre’s strength is that he is able to bring you into his life and make you feel like you have been there, too. He is able to bring you to Lake Real, can introduce you to his mother, a homeless man in Montreal, and Madame Segoine in New Brunswick. He does this through an amazing repertoire of facial expressions and accents within the barest staging you can imagine: a black floor and a chair.  He uses those accessories so well that you are with him in the woods,  when he walks over branches (the chair) and in the stream, or when he relives an altercation he had with his cousin and rolls kicking on the floor seriously fighting back (with the chair).

The play could use some editing as it is easy to get confused as to what is going on and who he is talking to, especially in the beginning. There is no respect for time or place and as a result, it seems as if it is unbalanced and scattered at times. 

However,  do not try to make sense of it all at first. Just sit back and observe a talented actor taking the audience on his personal journey: it will all make sense in the end.

Les 3 exils de Christian E. has closed in Toronto but will also be playing at Théâtre d'Aujourdhui in Montreal from January 15-February 2