“While I grew up in the Quebec imagination of cultural and linguistic survival, very early on I felt the need to go elsewhere,” explains actress, author and director Laurence Dauphinais, whose show Cycloramaa documentary comedy on Montreal’s cultural duality, begins at the Centaur theater and ends at the Center du théâtre d’Aujourd’hui.
Francophone through and through, Dauphinais has nonetheless been drawn to Anglo-Montreal culture since childhood. Born in 1983, raised in the metropolis by parents who learned a few words of English during the annual trip to Old Orchard, she is now bilingual and works regularly with English-speaking artists. “I had to leave what was familiar to me,” she explains, “I had to satisfy my curiosity, expand my sandbox. I was not only attracted by English-speaking culture, I was attracted by everything I didn’t know, but the English language quickly became a master key to a whole host of other things, to everything that existed in outside the province. I have never cut myself off from French, quite the contrary. All of this, to me, is a process of addition, not subtraction. »
Overview
The cyclorama is a scene painted on a large circular panel that allows the viewer to observe all angles simultaneously. That of Laurence Dauphinais is a historical fresco in motion with which the designer wishes to unite the two solitudes, in other words “to dig into the malaise hoping that it will dissolve”. “It’s a project that looks a lot like me, which carries my DNA,” explains the one who signs the text and the staging in addition to playing in the show of about three hours.
Dauphinais came up with the concept after receiving a joint invitation from Sylvain Bélanger, artistic director of the Center du théâtre d’Aujourd’hui, and Eda Holmes, who holds the same position at the Centaur. The two dreamed of a collaboration between their theaters. “I found that presenting the same show in front of the same audience both in an English-speaking theater and in a French-speaking theater was not only unprecedented, but also quite exciting, explains the theater woman. In addition to the socio-historical journey offered by the performance, there is physical travel, since the public will take the bus (where the show will continue via audio) to get from the Centaur to the Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui by taking Boulevard Saint -Laurent. »
For the situation to change, for theater audiences to diversify, for communities to meet, the creator believes that institutions need to get involved. “Great things are happening at La Chapelle and La Licorne, in particular, but I think this is just the start. It is essential to imagine new ways of doing things. Preaching to converts has never interested me. That’s why I devote myself to projects that are a little “left field”, like Aalaapi, where Inuit women spoke. To work on a show, I absolutely have to feel an urgency. It can take many forms, of course, but the need to create here and now always has to triumph. »
I wanted to bring together audiences who know nothing about each other. Cyclorama will allow Anglophones and Francophones to hear together, simultaneously, the interpretations of the same story, the multiple points of view, the different versions of the facts.
Because she believes that Law 96 “proves that there is a significant divide between the punitive policies imposed by the government, presumably fueled by the fear of loss, and the desire for inclusion carried by [sa] generation and those that follow”, the creator decided to tread the stage with Antoine Yared, a Montreal actor of Lebanese origin who grew up in French and Arabic before working in English in Canada and the United States.
“At CEGEP, Antoine chose to study theater in English,” explains Dauphinais. A French-speaking immigrant who enrolls at Dawson College and chooses to study in English is the biggest taboo, it’s François Legault’s greatest fear. After his studies, because he had no contacts in the French community, Antoine had to go into exile in Ontario. His journey embodies the absurdity of the current situation, one of the sad consequences of the rupture that exists between the two communities. Let’s say that, for the show I had in mind, Antoine was the ideal interlocutor. Laurence and Antoine, between whom the tone sometimes rises, delve into the divided history of Montreal theater in order to analyze the impact of politics on artistic practice. Alongside them on stage, Alexandre Cadieux and Erin Hurley, specialists in the history of Quebec theatre, are responsible for enforcing “a meticulous research protocol”, but also for “marking out the emotions and structuring the thinking of the two protagonists”. .
The company has a didactic character that the designer fully assumes. “We are here to learn things,” she says. I wanted to bring together audiences who know nothing about each other. Cyclorama will allow Anglophones and Francophones to hear together, simultaneously, the interpretations of the same story, the multiple points of view, the different versions of the facts. »
Very often, believes Dauphinais, the collective stories, those in which our personal and professional lives take root, are neither more nor less than fictions: “The clichés that remain, on both sides, must be seriously questioned. As French-speaking Quebecers, as representatives of the dominant culture, in a position of power, it is important to know how to consider our blind spots. I hope we’ll manage to rewrite all that together, in the present, the present of the performance. »
While steeped in English culture and determined to create and work in the language of Shakespeare, Laurence Dauphinais has French tattooed on her heart. “You shouldn’t think that I don’t care about my language and the status of French in Quebec. It is my mother tongue, the one I love the most in the world because it is associated with my life story and my artistic education. »
In the vox pop produced by comedian Guy Nantel in front of Dawson College, a video posted on September 20 in which English speakers had a hard time identifying big names in Quebec culture, what Laurence Dauphinais sees, c t is first and foremost ignorance: “Ignorance is very great in our time,” she laments. And believe me, it is far from being reserved for English speakers. It is a widespread, worrying phenomenon, which we will have to tackle seriously. I do not lose hope, but the situation is worrying. I don’t have a miracle solution, but perhaps we should think about building an army of education and transmission. »