Since 2015, Les Bénés have appeared at various festivals and cabarets to provide a platform for emerging French-speaking theatrical artists who identify as women or non-binary people. “It’s a space for creation and expression,” explains Judith Chartier, a recent graduate, like her colleagues in distinctive jackets, from UQAM’s École Supérieure de Théâtre. It’s a way to explore in the greatest freedom while gaining visibility. We have provided this platform to authors, designers, actresses, dancers, puppeteers, singers, musicians, performance artists… Our feminism, it goes first and foremost through gathering and sisterhood . Our speech is our action. »
The name of the collective refers to the Benedictine eggs ordered spontaneously by all the participants of the brunch during which the adventure began. Seven years later, Les Bénés brings together nearly fifty creators and prepares to take an important step: to present the same 120-minute show three times in a Montreal venue.
Held at Prospero in an open room configuration, where the stage extends into the stands, The big launch will feature some twenty artists. “We responded to a call for projects launched by Prospero, explains Virginie Ouellet. All theaters should organize this kind of simple and inclusive invitation. It allows emerging artists to formulate their ideas, to submit a work. To take action, in short. When the artistic director Philippe Cyr gave us the green light, we were really happy. »
“Our evenings have always given pride of place to improvisation and spontaneity,” says Anneke Brier. Our challenge at the moment is to translate this spirit, this feverishness, into a more elaborate, more calibrated show, which will have not one, but three performances. »
Source of additional stress: the collective did not obtain the government aid it had requested from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec. “At that time, admits Virginie Ouellet, several political questions arose for us. Is it a good idea to produce and air a show that hasn’t received funding? What signal does it send? Is it ethical to ask professionals to work more or less on a voluntary basis? For this time, the artists came to the conclusion that they could not miss this springboard, that they could not deprive themselves of the showcase that the event could represent.
Our evenings have always given pride of place to improvisation and spontaneity. Our challenge at the moment is to translate this spirit, this feverishness, into a more elaborate, more calibrated show, which will have not one, but three performances.
“Prospero’s support is exceptional,” says Anne Giroux. The team is doing everything they can to help us. But the fact remains that the pressure on our shoulders is greater and that we have no choice but to deal with it. “We are inhabited by the urgency to create and we have things to say, adds Judith Chartier. In the long term, of course, designing and producing without subsidies is not viable, but we must admit that these refusals have been a really powerful driving force. I would go so far as to say that it became the main subject of the show. It will be necessary to attend a performance to understand exactly what I mean, but what we stage, in a way, is an acknowledgment of failure. We take the opportunity to divert conventions, to play on the limit between truth and lies, between reality and hoax. »
Guide for young actresses
In 2020, as a reaction to the health crisis and its consequences, the collective is working on the development of a collection of texts in which 26 women artists question their practice. “We contacted all those who had participated in the Benes evenings since 2015, explains Virginie Ouellet. We asked them to write about their job, about the beautiful and less beautiful moments of their professionalization process. They are 26 to have answered our call. They address a host of subjects, including motherhood, the relationship to the body, to appearance, to competition, not to mention the famous cast in which several actresses feel trapped. These are issues specific to our environment, but which at the same time concern all women, and even all of society. »
This is the publication of this collection, entitled The little guide for young actresses, which serves as a pretext for the show that will be given to the Prospero. “To mark the birth of the book at Éditions Mycéliums, explains Judith Chartier, we decided to launch something unusual. We organized a cabaret whose numbers are inspired by the themes covered in the book. There are sketches, songs, DJing, dancing, solos and group scenes, more serious, more vulnerable, more sensitive speeches, and others that are completely goofy, even grotesque. »
In addition to our four interlocutors, we can expect to see on stage Jade Barshee, Roxanne Bédard, Éli C. Lafleur, Laura Côté-Bilodeau, Laura Côté-Hallé, Myriam Debonville, Éloïse Demers-Pinard, Maude Demers-Rivard, Camila Forteza, Carolanne Foucher, Geneviève Gagné, Katherine IS, Vanessa Landry, Rosalie Leblanc, Audrée Lewka, Blanche-Alice Plante, Kathy-Alexandra Retamal Villegas and Ariane Trépanier.
Already, the four creators we met are thinking about the future of the Benes. “Recently, explains Virginie Ouellet, we realized that we were a kind of vehicle, something like a bus that brings together, that takes as many women artists as possible on its journey. For the future, our dearest wish would be to continue to take on board those who come out of theater schools. We would like to give them the facts, prepare them for failure, of course, but above all inspire them, involve them, provide them with hope, reasons to dream. »