This text is part of the special section Culture Montérégie
Youth theater adapts brilliantly to its audience and reflects the values of Quebec society. The proof: L’Arrière Scène and Motus, two institutions based in Montérégie.
“Nothing is unspeakable for young audiences,” says Jean-François Guilbault, co-director general and artistic director of L’Arrière Scène, a drama center for children and young people in Montérégie, which produces in-house shows and also broadcasts external works. “Whether it is aimed at children or adults, the dramaturgy must be of the same level of quality. »
The past revisited
This Beloeil theater wants to give back to the texts of the last decades their letters of nobility and anchor them in the XXIand century. The last two years may have disrupted its activities, but the theater quickly adapted by offering shows in class, in schoolyards and even in virtual mode.
It is in this context that the Théâtrophone was born, an audio platform created in partnership with the Maison Théâtre, made up of 30 theater companies, and with the youth theater Les Gros Becs. “We wanted to leave a digital trace of older works, from the last 20 or 30 years, reviewed by young directors,” adds Jean-François Guilbault.
Like Naomi’s Ark, a piece from the 1990s, which the artistic director wanted, upon his arrival in office in 2019, to place in the contemporary universe. The monologue is interpreted by four actresses from cultural diversity — Quebec, Haiti, China and the Maghreb — and the musical score is signed Jorane.
“Making a plurality of voices heard is one of our criteria,” says Jean-François Guilbault. There aren’t that many diverse artists and writers who appeal to young audiences. Inspired by the biblical Noah’s ark, this piece addresses, among other things, the oh so current themes of isolation, confinement and anxiety.
Awakening Theater
Rooting in modernity also involves linking theater and other artistic forms, such as poetry, dance, music and the visual arts. A characteristic born from the vision of Serge Marois, artist and founder of L’Arrière Scène, inspired by the European signature of theater for young people.
Thus, its programming combines circus arts, puppet manipulation and dance for an audience from preschool to adolescence. To maximize the theatrical experience for young people, L’Arrière Scène offers teachers cultural mediation workshops (also in digital version) “that help adapt language and transfer concepts to make them heard by young people,” he says. Sometimes teachers do not feel able to address culture with their students; we want the theater to be seen as accessible to everyone”.
Because, whatever its audience, the theater presupposes establishing a pact between the work and its audience. The objective of this mediation: to provoke a spark and to provoke reflection among young people since “culture is not a consumer product like any other, even if it is sometimes reduced to that”, summarizes Jean-François Guilbault.
Inclusion and diversity
This year, L’Arrière Scène received the Motus company, based in Longueuil, with the show Tree, everyone, created specifically for children with an autism spectrum disorder, an intellectual disability, or who have reduced mobility. “For these children, visual or sound surprises can be anxiety-provoking, explains Mathilde Addy-Laird, co-artistic director of Motus. We help them enter into the imagination of the play gently, by showing them the puppets before the show. »
For artists, it’s about trying to enter the world of children so that their experience is positive. This type of inclusive theatre, well developed in the United Kingdom, is beginning to make its debut in Quebec. The sessions are presented in front of a limited audience and are adapted, as far as possible, to the reactions of each of them. A pioneer in this field in Quebec, Motus wishes to share its expertise with show presenters thanks to its support tool: tree-motus.com.
Intercultural dialogue is also at the heart of the work of the Motus company with, in particular, Traveling Tales, which is aimed at ages 5 and up (also available via webcast). Three tales are told in a public place by three artists from here and elsewhere: the Iroquois tale, Otjiera and the dream fast ; The hunting gallerythe classical Quebec theme; Baobaba tale from West Africa, which depicts the emblematic tree of the savannah.
The troupe, which performs in Quebec and internationally, will present Baobab May 14, from 10:15 a.m., on the occasion of the 20and anniversary of Motus, during the festival Petits bonheurs de Longueuil, at the Isidore-Hurteau square.
True to its value of inclusion, this year’s project is to present Tree, everyone in a version suitable for toddlers, from 0 to 4 years old.