The 1980s murder at the center of "Le Polygraphe" echoes that of an actress in the Canadian city of Quebec — a killing for which the chief suspect for a time was the renowned Quebecois dramatist Robert Lepage, who cowrote the play in 1987 with actress, author and theater director Marie Brassard. Postmodern blurring of reality and fakery is thus at the heart of this 90 uninterrupted minutes of onstage energy.
From the moment the three actors Mitsuru Fukikoshi (who plays David), Midori Laurence Ota (Lucie) and Kaiji Moriyama (Francois) arrive on the sparsely decorated stage the audience is forced to question where they were, and when, what was real and who may be telling the truth — about the killing; about their lives.
After introducing his costars and the story, the lights dimmed as Fukikoshi (who also directs) slid into character. Or another character. Then what a treat it was when Hitsuji Suzuki's soundtrack began, reminiscent of Ry Cooder's music for Wim Wenders' 1985 film "Paris, Texas" — sexy and dark, its slide guitars slithering across the stage.