The actress Eve Landry will play the main character of the play from March 15 An enemy of the people, at the TNM, then at the Trident, in Quebec. A first in his rich career. Meeting with an assumed impatient, who only asks to explore new paths.
Posted at 7:00 a.m.
They are all there: Robert Gravel, Andrée Lachapelle, Sylvie Drapeau, Pierre Lebeau… From the top of their posters plastered on the walls, the made-up faces of these sacred monsters watch over the Café du Nouveau Monde, where Eve Landry has just pose, well wrapped up in an ecru woolen cloth, but barefoot in her sandals. Soon it will be up to the actress to see “her big face” (according to the main interested party) being added to the pantheon of artists who have held leading roles in TNM productions.
“It touches me a lot to think about it. I had dinner at the Café du TNM with my mother a few years ago. I played a supporting role in the play Saint Carmen of the Hand. I had told my mother that if one day I found myself headlining at the TNM, she could tell herself that her daughter is well established in Montreal and that she is having fun! It is certainly impressive when I think of all the big names who have passed through here…”
Impressive, certainly, but nothing will ever be more dear to the heart of this girl from Bas-Saint-Laurent than the honors bestowed by the inhabitants of her native village, Saint-Pascal-de-Kamouraska. “I have a piece of sidewalk with my name and the imprint of my hand. This gesture really touched me, because it was there that my big dreams as an 8-year-old child were born. »
These dreams were born in front of the small screen, watching artists transform themselves for roles before parading in a beautiful dress at galas… They carried her to the Montreal Conservatory, where she was accepted from her first hearing. And from where she came out full of hopes and doubts in 2007.
Go beyond the roles of maganées
In September 2012, date of the broadcast of the first episode ofUnit 9, Eve Landry stormed into viewers’ lives like a hurricane. We learned to hate her – before loving her – in the role of inmate Jeanne Biron. His Carolanne moved us to tears in Can you hear me ? and her character of Lieutenant Mélanie Charron has brought a little rigor to the post of District 31.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY RADIO-CANADA
Eve Landry in Reasonable doubt
She is also an intriguing, wealthy and charming doctor in the Canadian radio detective series Reasonable doubt. This role allowed him to finally swap Jeanne and Carolanne’s jogging pants for high heels and designer clothes. “I think it was the first time I went to the CCM [costume, coiffure, maquillage] for something other than tattoos! “says the 36-year-old actress.
“I played a lot of maganées, girls who have little education. Since I left Jeanne Biron, I wanted to play different characters, to go elsewhere, as an actress. I want to tap into the strong woman and mom inside of me. These are aspects that I have not yet been able to explore on television. It’s fun to go to less tortured areas, to play more confident women. »
Confident women like her? “I have confidence in myself, yes, but I don’t have any sense of the repartee of my characters. I have a big mouth, but no argument! »
A first big role on the boards
At the theater, she will therefore have the opportunity to defend a leading role for the first time in her career in An enemy of the people, by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. “When I was offered the role of DD Katrine Stockmann, I did not hesitate. Then came the vertigo! I wondered, and I still wonder, how am I going to get there! Theater is a marathon. I’ve been boosting my immune system since September to make sure I’m in good shape!
“This character has such exuberance in intimacy! Much more than me. She’s so convinced she’s right. I doubt much more. I understood that we will never be able to change someone’s mind. I keep my energy rather than get angry and want to educate the motorist who does not stop! Katrine, she never lets go. At the risk of getting lost…”
A natural authority
Even if this is the first time that the two women have worked together, director Édith Patenaude has no doubt that Eve Landry will find the truth of this very strong character.
“Eve has always been around me. We were even roommates briefly in Quebec when she came to play a play at the Trident. To play the role of Katrine, I was looking for a strong actress, but who also has a very endearing side. Eve has it all. »
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, PRESS ARCHIVES
Edith Patenaude, director ofAn enemy of the people
She’s warm without being pushy. She is a very cool girl, who has a strong natural authority.
Édith Patenaude, director, about Eve Landry
In Ibsen’s play, published in 1882, the Dr Stockmann is a man. Convinced to help the villagers by teaching them that the water from the spa that sustains them is contaminated, Thomas Stockmann sees himself rather ostracized from society by his fellow citizens, the media and the political powers in place. Edith Patenaude has decided to feminize this character. “If we don’t question gender in repertory theatre, there will always be an imbalance between men and women. These texts were written at the time by men and for men… We must no longer take for granted the gender of the roles, any more than the origin of the actors who interpret them. »
“However, I did not choose Eve for her androgynous energy, but because she is socially attractive. We want to impress him! She is also able to articulate a strong speech to make it readable, and all that, with emotion. She’s a wonderful actress, very hardworking. »
An enemy of the people, despite its dramatic subject, is not a play devoid of humour, recalls Édith Patenaude. Here, the humor does not rest on the shoulders of Eve Landry’s character, but, according to the director, the performer has everything needed, including an excellent sense of timing, to illustrate himself in a more comic register. “Eve can be very funny, even if she gives off something serious. She is very capable of being a nanny! »
Funny in spite of herself
Eve Landry, a comedian? The artist doubts herself, despite her years as a star improviser, at the National League of Improvisation (LNI) in particular. “I don’t find myself funny. Besides, I’m never jealous of comic roles on TV, whereas I envy all dramatic roles! »
PHOTO DAVID BOILY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Florence Longpré and Eve Landry on the set of Can you hear me ?
“It’s wrong,” says her longtime friend Florence Longpré. Eve is very funny, perhaps in spite of herself! I would have no hesitation in giving him a comedic role. One thing is certain, Florence Longpré did not hesitate to entrust her great friend with the extremely touching role of Carolanne in her series. Can you hear me ?, a character she created expressly for her. “I knew she was very talented; I also knew the rigor she was going to put into defending this character, even if he had few lines. With Carolanne, everything had to go through the face and the unspoken. »
Today, when I look back at how far Eve has come, I’m so proud of her. And damn she is beautiful!
Florence Longpre
Beautiful… and impatient. Florence Longpré confirms it: the tattoo worn by Eve Landry on her forearm – “Don’t forget that you are impatient” – is very accurate. “It’s true that she is impatient, but me, it makes me laugh! »
Eve Landry admits that this tattoo helps her to set her limits, not to ask herself the impossible. “My children aged 5 and 4 ask me on their own: ‘Mom, have we exceeded your limits?’ But this impatience also serves me in my work. I devour the texts when I receive them, even at night! »
Florence Longpré adds with a laugh: “Eve has another tattoo which she brags about less: a very ugly tattoo of the masks of Jean qui laughs and Jean qui cries. You can write it! »
It is done.
An enemy of the peoplefrom March 15 to April 9 at the TNM and from April 19 to May 14 at the Trident
Eve Landry at the helm of Which families
PHOTO PROVIDED BY UNIS TV
Eve Landry went to meet atypical families for the documentary series Which families.
Another first: Eve Landry will host the documentary program from April 7 Which families, on United TV. “I traveled to Quebec and Canada to meet 13 atypical families who have chosen to live according to their principles, their values: a family who has been traveling by bicycle for 11 years, a single father in Anticosti, a zero waste family… Each encounter sparked reflections at home about the life choices we made, my boyfriend and I. When I received the offer, the pandemic had been going on for a year. I could not resist. Even my boyfriend advised me to leave, saying that it would be good for everyone! I really needed to go out and meet people! I think this show has made me a better mom. »