If there is one playwright whose works are tirelessly presented on our stages, it is Anton Chekhov (1860-1904). After Platonovreviewed and corrected by Angela Konrad at Prospero, and The three sisters, revisited by René Richard Cyr at the TNM (the webcast is accessible until June 30), two plays inspired by the themes and characters of the Russian author are being shown at the same time in the metropolis. We met the actors Mikhaïl Ahooja, 35, and Alex Bergeron, 30, who occupy completely comparable roles.
At the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde (TNM), Mikhaïl Ahooja is reuniting with Serge Denoncourt, who has directed him many times, to take part in the creation of Michel Tremblay’s most recent play: Dear Chekhov. “It’s a way for Tremblay to pay tribute to his favorite author,” explains the actor. That said, I think all theater people are fascinated by Chekhov. It is unparalleled writing, where nothing is discussed, where nothing is explicitly named, but where at the same time all the subjects are addressed. It is this mystery that keeps us coming back to Chekhov, that it is possible to deliver very different and often convincing interpretations of him. »
At the Théâtre du Rideau Vert, Alex Bergeron works under the direction of Marc St-Martin in a Quebec version of Vania and Sonia and Masha and spike, a play by the American Christopher Durang created in 2012. “Based on the protagonists of the Russian author, Durang orchestrates a completely contemporary comedy, explains the actor. The Chekhovian mystery of which Mikhail speaks, it also resides, in my opinion, in the ambiguous gaze that the playwright casts on his characters. Is he sensitive to their suffering or is he laughing at them? This equivocal character, but also what we readily call the Chekhovian tone, this famous apathy, Durang captures all of this with great skill. »
In both plays, in accordance with the Chekhovian tradition, the theater invites itself into the theatre. Each time, a star actress, eldest of the family, is back in the setting of her youth, for better or for worse. In Tremblay’s play, it is Claire (Anne-Marie Cadieux), from a family entirely devoted to the stage, who appears in the shadow of a century-old house in Vaudreuil. In that of Durang, whose action has been transposed to Quebec, it is Macha (Sylvie Léonard) who deigns to visit her sister and her brother in the home of their childhood, located in a region which could very well be the Eastern Townships. It is often said that there is something very Québécois in the way Chekhov’s characters contemplate their destinies without outlets. In the two rereadings that occupy us, it seems more true than ever.
Troublemakers
Mikhaïl Ahooja and Alex Bergeron embody characters outside the clan, those who disturb and disturb, those who cause change and upset the established order. Ahooja is Christian, the theater critic who comes to Claire’s arm like a hair in the soup. “It’s very pleasant to play, explains the actor, because my function is clear. My role in the family dynamic is unambiguous. My mere presence makes everyone cringe. Christian is a catalyst who will make sure that things break out and that the dirty laundry is washed as a family. »
It’s very pleasant to play, because my function is clear. My role in the family dynamic is unambiguous. My mere presence makes everyone cringe. Christian is a catalyst who will make sure that things break out and that the dirty laundry is washed as a family.
You should know that the character of the author, Benoit (Henri Chassé), has been out of writing since he was exhausted by a review signed by Christian three years earlier. “The crux of the piece, explains Ahooja, is the questioning of an aging author. Did I give the best of myself? Am I still relevant? Do people still want to listen to what I have to say? Am I overtaken by youth? Should I stop? Should I abdicate? If so, what am I going to do, I don’t know anything else? »
Alex Bergeron is Spike, Macha’s lover, a dog in a game of bowling, the one who is always ready to provoke, in particular by exposing his body of Apollo. “He doesn’t understand what’s going on,” explains the actor about his character. He doesn’t listen to the others, he constantly misreads the situation, he is constantly out of step with the rest of the gang. But he is without any malice. While he is in a family where everyone is restrained and concealed, he is incapable of hiding anything, he names everything, he says everything, he shows everything. »
Christopher Durang thus makes sure to shoot a few arrows at the sacrosanct American dream. “Spike is a young actor who dreams of breaking into Hollywood,” says Bergeron. If he is in a relationship with Macha, it is because his status as a movie star could open doors for him. He is not really a profiteer, rather in phase with his time, aware of the functioning of the machine. It was also in order to succeed in Hollywood that he changed his name to Spike. His agent thought that Vlad didn’t sound good, probably too Russian. »
Throw the baby out with the bathwater
In the eyes of the two actors, the boycott movement of Russian artists born in response to the attacks suffered by the Ukrainian people clearly constitutes a drift. “We are not going to blacklist Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov and Prokofiev,” exclaims Alex Bergeron. They are masterpieces, we won’t stop listening to them, playing them, reading them or interpreting them. Countries in crisis have always generated strong works, it would be wrong to turn away from them. »
As for Mikhail Ahooja, he admits that the question was discussed in the rehearsal room. “We are putting on a play by Michel Tremblay, not a play by Chekhov, but it certainly contains a declaration of love for the Russian author, an obvious tribute. I think it would be wrong to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Not all Russians are bad guys. Excluding Russian artists and athletes, in my opinion, is a step backwards, a way to escalate the situation, a kind of new cold war. »
“These days, believes Bergeron, there is a strong tendency to make a clean sweep of this and that, a phenomenon that I find worrying. After the Second World War, the German Jew Hannah Arendt opposed the boycott of the German people, believing that the only way to prevent history from repeating itself was through education. Between German culture and Nazism, one should not make an amalgam. The culture of erasure is dangerous. We cannot decide that the Russians do not exist. To do so is to give arguments to those who believe that the West wishes to rally the entire planet against Russia. »