Anne-Marie Olivier was in front of a television set on March 12, 2020, when Prime Minister François Legault banned gatherings of more than 250 people. A decision that plunged the artistic director and the entire Trident team into two years of unforeseen events, upheavals and question marks. A situation where the theatrical institution of Quebec had to be resilient, and above all creative.
A school performance of the play Romeo and Juliet had just started, in the Octave-Crémazie room of the Grand Théâtre de Québec, when Prime Minister François Legault announced that the performance halls had to close their doors.
“I was watching the press conference with the co-director general and administrative director Marc-Antoine Malo and it was he who went to the dressing rooms, after the performance, to announce that the one scheduled for the evening would not be presented. The team, which had been playing for a week, was devastated. The artists were crying,” said artistic director Anne-Marie Olivier during an interview.
Photo courtesy, Stéphane Bourgeois
Anne-Marie Olivier, artistic director and general co-director of Trident.
the unknown
At the dawn of his 50and season, the Trident found itself plunged into the unknown. The team took the shock.
“I remember telling my colleague that this case could last two years. For him, it was one or three weeks maximum,” she remarked.
Anne-Marie Olivier was right. The Trident faced, in the months that followed, reopenings and other closures. Initiatives have been put in place. There were solo shows, radio theatre, TV theatre, film theatre, a five-episode web documentary on the 50th anniversary of the Trident and a web series called Replica on the theater.
“Turn around is part of creativity. It would be the end, for an artist who often begins his career with three ten cents, one five hundred and three one cent, not to be resourceful, ”she said,
On December 20, after three closures, a fourth occurred eight days after the last performance of Romeo and Juliet. The production where everything stopped for the first time on March 12, 2020.
Archival photo
Lorraine Côté was sure she could do the 15 performances scheduled for La Sagouine when she took to the stage at Le Trident on September 22, 2020. “The news started to get tough and as the premiere approached, I wondered said that we might not make it to the end. There were five performances. It was such an abrupt crash and end. We couldn’t do anything. It was extremely disappointing, ”said the actress.
The importance of performing arts
On March 3, during the media premiere of the documentary theater play Milk Run, Anne-Marie Olivier found herself in front of a full house to present the show. A first in two years.
“It was a lovely evening. It was beautiful and symbolic on many levels. We were isolated in our lives, we were told that our profession was not essential and this piece is. I can’t tell you how important it was for us collectively to stop being all alone and being left out,” she said.
The Trident has tried, over the past two years, to support the community and the artists who have gone through difficult times.
Anne-Marie Olivier believes that it will take hard work to find what was in place before the pandemic. She sees the magnitude of the task.
“We became aware of society’s perception of what we were doing. We understand that we are not a hospital or a school, but we are also whistleblowers. We are talking about important issues in society, as we are doing right now with milk run, which addresses the plight of Quebec dairy producers. Maybe it’s not essential for everyone, but for me it is. I may have to work even harder to tell the world that the performing arts are important in a society, ”she said.
Forward facing
Anne-Marie Olivier looks forward. She wants this return to normal, with full rooms and the end of the vaccine passport, to be final.
“Me, I don’t put any more energy on it. If we can, we play, and that’s it. We will hope so. We just want a return to normal, ”she dropped.
Chronology of events
- March 12, 2020 : Closure of performance halls
- September 22, 2020 : The Trident launches its fall season with a maximum of 250 spectators per performance.
- September 29, 2020 : Quebec goes into the red zone. Theaters are closing again.
- March 3, 2021 : The Quebec City region is moving into the orange zone. The reopening of performance halls is permitted from March 8, 2021.
- 1er April 2021 : Theaters in the Quebec region must once again close their doors.
- April 10, 2021 : The government authorizes the opening of performance halls and theaters throughout the Québec region.
- December 20, 2021 : Theaters must close again.
- February 7, 2022 : Theaters can open at 50% capacity.
- February 28, 2022 : Performance halls can open to their maximum capacity.