Le Grand Soir
08 November 2025
Etcetera Theatre
2.0 out of 5.0 stars
Le Grand Soir by 88 mètres/seconde was staged at the Etcetera Theatre as part of the Voila Festival this past weekend. The show revolves around its two writer/performers Mille Zhong & Alissia Pervozvanski-Dangles, two multi-national lesbians seeking to examine and heal their “daddy issues” stemming from growing up with absent fathers. The production is an audience-involved one, offering attendees Russian pickles and Chinese tea, recruiting a few audience members to read out pre-written questions, as well as inviting audiences to partake in a forgiveness ritual. The show is presented in four languages, English, French, Mandarin, and Russian, occasionally providing translations for the non-English sections.
At the start, this production feels like it has a structure and narrative, beginning with a welcome speech and introduction of the performers, how they met, and how they relate to each other. They touch on growing up in France with their fathers living far away in China and Russia respectively, unable to visit regularly due to the political circumstances of these countries. They speak on trying to find acceptance for their queerness from traditional minded fathers, feeling disconnected and left behind due to lack of contact, seeking to find peace by looking at their lives through the perspective of their fathers.
Le Gand Soir is not traditional theatre as such, but increasingly feels more like a group therapy session with unwilling participants as it goes on. There’s a hum-along melody moment in the middle of the show that is unconnected to the rest of the goings-on, private letters and thoughts are discussed superficially but not deeply explored, moments of expressive dance drag on among phone calls and comedic sidebars. There’s definitely a lot going on in this production, but it doesn’t seem to come together to form a cohesive piece of theatre. Rather, it feels like a private moment among friends presented without much planning or a discernible through-thread that allows it to form a show.
The main idea behind Le Grand Soir is a great one, a gentle examination of traditional father figures hindered in being present in their children’s lives due to political circumstance, and the impact this had on the two presenters of the show in their childhood and youth, and the freedom that comes from understanding and forgiveness. However the looseness of the show, the lack of a clear thread, the jumble of different approaches and features, leads to it lacking refinement and direction. Mille speaks very softly and quietly throughout, making it difficult to hear their words clearly, while Alissia runs a mile with her words, rushing through passages at breakneck speed and losing audience attention while words jumble into each other.
There’s room for development, a chance to re-examine and refine the show to create a cohesive piece of theatre. However, presented as it was in this iteration, it’s a bit of a hot mess with a soft heart.
