Artists of all generations, carrying different backgrounds, will come to the stage of Espace Libre next season, for what will be the ultimate program imagined by Geoffrey Gaquère.
The latter gave up his place as artistic director and general manager to Félix-Antoine Boutin last February. “The next season is really a nice summary of what Geoffrey has done over the past nine years,” said Félix-Antoine Boutin. We find fragmented proposals, with a view of the world that takes different forms. »
He adds: “An alternative company, Productions Carmagnoles, is back with THE Erotisseries, one of last year’s big hits. But on the other hand, we have a comedy with Yves Jacques and Mathieu Quesnel. There is also talk of a pandemic with a proposal from Joanne Liu… ”
PHOTO DOMINICK GRAVEL, THE PRESS
Félix-Antoine Boutin, artistic director and general manager of Espace Libre
There is really a bursting of forms and subjects.
Félix-Antoine Boutin, artistic director and general manager of Espace Libre
Félix-Antoine Boutin also says he is very happy with the intergenerational facet of this 2023-2024 program. “I want to continue in this vein and make Espace Libre a meeting place between generations, between people with different backgrounds. Our world is becoming more and more circumscribed and I believe that the theatrical milieu can represent a good model in this sense. »
The works on display
The season opens on September 2 with a unique performance of the show-river The crossing of the centuryimagined by Alice Ronfard and based on the dramaturgical and romantic work of Michel Tremblay.
From September 26 to October 7, Félix-Antoine Boutin presents two projects in the form of carte blanche offered to Evelyne de la Chenelière and Morena Prats. The title of the show: beats.
will follow A conjuration, a play by the Nouveau Théâtre Expérimental written by Alexis Martin and directed by Daniel Brière. The play summons the painter André Masson and the writer Georges Bataille to the stage, as fascism rises in Europe. With Alexis Martin, Maxim Gaudette and Catherine De Léan. From October 25 to November 11.
From November 21 to December 9, Les Erotisseries will be back. In this rereading of the 2022 show, which sold out, the public is once again invited to explore its relationship to eroticism and sexuality. For ages 18 and up. Joanne Liu, pediatric emergency physician and former international president of Doctors Without Borders, is behind the play Our Cassandres. It will be a question here of the management of the pandemic, but also of commitment and fear. The text is signed Anne-Marie Olivier; Frédéric Dubois is in charge of the staging. From January 16 to February 3.
A three-night retrospective of the work of mixed Oji-Cree choreographer Lara Kramer will follow. This double program will bring together the creations Windigo And The Voices. From February 8 to 10.
The two accomplices Mathieu Quesnel and Yves Jacques will take the stage from February 20 to March 2 with a co-signed comedy entitled The sister donkeys. Candied turnip sets the musical mood here.
The Joe, Jack and John company will follow with the revival of their play Cispersonages in search of an author, reinterpretation of the work of Luigi Pirandello which will be presented at the beginning of June at the Festival TransAmérique. This piece is deeply rooted in current questions of cultural appropriation, the culture of banishment and the notion of privilege. From March 12 to 23.
The room Laughter close the season. Here, seven young actors who graduated from theater schools during the pandemic will put on a show around the notion of laughter. Is what was funny yesterday still funny today? Daniel Brière and Alexis Martin will take care of the collage of the texts and the staging.