From wrestling to opera | The Press

We don’t just do shit! We do a little, but not nothing!

Where does this affected language come from? From Le Diamant theater in Quebec City, which defines its mission as follows: from wrestling to opera.

In fact, these ceremonial words are the work of two people, who clap their hands after a successful premiere or when a show is running at full capacity?

He is Robert Lepage, the internationally recognized artist. She is Lynda Beaulieu, her sister, the queen mother for those close to her. Twins, but 14 months apart.

For 25 years with her brother, Lynda’s mission has been to take care of stewardship, to let the creator work in peace.

La Diamant is the work of Robert, but built by Lynda, who watches over him, as she watches over her brother.

After light years elsewhere – the Westburne company – Lynda arrived in a less orderly, more organic world – culture – to which she added her tint, let’s say. Team meetings with your feet on the conference table, it’s over: “I don’t want to see your feet, I want to see your face!” »

Robert’s base camp has always been Quebec, although he constantly travels the planet in a mad rush. Six countries in the last three months!

If you are surprised by the studied words of the beginning, it is because you do not know the hidden face of Robert Lepage, to paraphrase him himself. At first glance, the man is shy, a little cold.

But the hidden side eventually reveals a human who remembers where he came from, and who is not so difficult to break through in the end.

With his piece 887he explained his childhood and described his family. Courville features him, a teenager, and The dark side of the moon, young adult. The first play has been touring the world for seven years; The dark side for 22 years; and Courville since last September. When we talk about planetary successes…

Lowertown parents. Not high in clover. The father, taxi driver, former member of the navy, like the mother, enlisted and met on his return from the Second World War.

Lynda and Robert have been a team for a long time. Even at school, when she went to the front when the children shook Robert, laughing at her difference. Between them the love is unconditional, but no bullshit, even if the troubadour of the family would be a bit proud. If what she sees on the boards is not to the taste of the youngest, the sentence will come out harsh. But resentment does not exist.

The Robert we don’t know, the everyday Robert, has acquired the house of his aunt Jeanne, the only one of the nine children in the family who has not lived all her life on rent. Well married, Jeanne, she had struck well. Robert and Lynda spent time there, during the summer and the holidays. On the banks of the Saint-Charles River, still in the national capital, Robert lives there in harmony with his past.

The majority of his friends do not come from a cultural background, not a jet-setter. Very family, even on the other side of the world, he will call because worried about the health of a niece. Discreetly, it will financially help a young stuntman starting out, or a new ax thrower who dreams of the circus!

Well, opera is fine, we understand, but wrestling?

It is what you see, at the Lepage, at the time, we listened to the fight on TV in siblings. A religion, as for many Quebec families. Édouard Carpentier was the favourite, Killer Kowalski the most impressive, and the Géant Ferré the least liked. The grandmother, suffering from dementia, was often afraid that the protagonists would enter the apartment. Complicated to explain to the grandma that it was safe at 887.

For Robert, the fight, a reminiscence, has become an art.

He spotted fans of this show sport, and kindly cracked, who make it their main hobby. We are talking here about the North Shore Pro Wrestling (NSPW), just that! Robert brought them back to Le Diamant for a few galas a year. Each time sold out, and it gives completely crazy and delirious evenings.

The clientele around the ring, classic: connoisseurs, cracked and ecstatic, who are part of the scenario. But otherwise, in the room, many of the geek à calotte and other civil society customers. And it’s all on board, you wouldn’t believe it, a villain party.

The wrestlers became friends of Robert. We are far from the Met, in New York, where he often directed productions. Names of artists like Falco, Angel, but Quebecers working in construction, or owners of pastries – yes, you read that right – or microbreweries.

With a star, Marko Estrada, correctional officer in a prison in Quebec. It seems that it keeps quiet on its number, it makes a mistake in the wings. I understand them, a big guy, you thing! But don’t look for Estrada where he comes from, Le Goulet in New Brunswick, there are only Roussels. A brilliant, who has been tripping on his extracurricular for 20 years. His body wears out, but he makes up for it with more theatrical performances. It does the job even better, he says!

In the programming, the struggle rubs shoulders The Seven Branches of the Ota River ; plays Tom Waits; NYX; Becoming Chelsea; Crypto; Prince Hamlet and Moby Dick.

And the Diamant is currently designing, with the Musée de la civilisation, an exhibition on… wrestling!

The distinct cultural community, of our distinct society, is definitely in Quebec!