The public will have to wait a little longer before discovering the new spaces of the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde (TNM). After many delays, the management is planning a delivery “at the end of autumn”. The total cost of the work is now estimated at 35 million.
The inauguration of the Sainte-Catherine Street theatre had been announced for the start of this season, and before that last spring, but the work is still far from being finished. The woman who runs awaywhich opened the show last week, welcomed its first spectators through the side doors, as has been the case for the past three years.
The expansion and renovation work began in 2021. A project initially estimated at 20 million, but which was affected by the vertiginous rise in costs, due among other things to inflation, but also to the shortage of materials and labor. Last year, the budget increased to 30.5 million. And according to the TNM management, it will be around 35 million at the end of the work.
The new co-general director and artistic director of the TNM, Geoffrey Gaquère, agrees that the cost may seem high, but he states: “Given the scale of the project, if we compare ourselves with others, we are within the norm. No one has been able to escape the increase in costs.”
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
The new co-general director and artistic director of the TNM, Geoffrey Gaquère
“We have nevertheless added a theatre within the theatre with the Réjean-Ducharme hall,” he insists, “a room with variable configuration and a capacity of 100 seats, which will be intended for the next generation and indigenous people. On the same level as this hall, on the first floor, we have built a foyer to accommodate spectators, and above, we have built a new rehearsal room.”
Geoffrey Gaquère did not want to give a date, but he predicts that the work will be completed “at the end of autumn”. The opening of the café-restaurant will follow.
“It’s not possible to give a specific date, because there are too many elements that we don’t control,” he tells us. “The number of workers on the site, delays in the delivery of materials, etc., but the current contractor’s schedule takes us to the end of fall.” It will be recalled that at the end of summer 2022, a fire on the site damaged the rear part of the building, delaying the work by several months.
While the exterior structure is now almost complete, the theatre management tells us that the main entrance hall, the installation of the new staircase, the rehearsal room floor and the new ticket office still need to be completed. The offices are finished, but there is still some finishing work to be done, Mr. Gaquère tells us, as does the Réjean-Ducharme hall, which must now be “equipped from an artistic point of view”.
Geoffrey Gaquère, who has just been appointed head of the TNM to replace Lorraine Pintal, will have time to get to grips with these new spaces and ensure the delivery of the project, given that Mr.me Pintal has scheduled the next two seasons before bowing out.
“It allows me to arrive, to understand how this ship works, because there is expertise in all areas,” his successor tells us. “It’s a lot of knowledge absorption. Considering the size of the ship, it’s not so bad. It gives me time to meet the artists and work quietly on my first season.”
That said, the theatre can count on an impressive subscriber base. Coming out of the pandemic, their number was around 7,000 people, according to Geoffrey Gaquère. Last year, there were around 9,000 and this year, the TNM has passed the 10,000 subscriber mark. “The challenge in the coming years will be to develop new audiences,” he believes, “while retaining the current audience.”