Ginette Noiseux: the stuff of dreams

We know Ginette Noiseux, the artistic director, at the head of Théâtre Espace Go for 35 years. We know her passion for contemporary writing, her commitment to women artists. However, we know less about Ginette Noiseux, the costume designer, the one who created the clothes for nearly 70 theatrical productions in her career.

Luc Boulanger
The Press

She’s the one who designed the clothes for the shows Electra and The breach at Espace Go; those of queens at the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde too… “These are some of the projects that have made me the happiest in my life”, she said in an interview with The Press. Next March, Omicron permitting, we will be able to admire her work as costume designer with Miss Julia, Rideau Vert production directed by Serge Denoncourt.

In 1995, while dreaming of the current place that houses her company, Ginette Noiseux already saw the creation of a theatrical creation center where several professional bodies would gravitate. Behind the building on boulevard Saint-Laurent, there is a workshop for making costumes, a multimedia recording studio, a large and bright rehearsal room, as well as the offices of the companies Ubu and Porte-Parole. “I have always seen Espace Go as a center for theatrical development and research. A place of reference for the avant-gardes in the performing arts,” explains Ms.^me Noiseux, met in her costume studio adjacent to the theater, shortly before Christmas.

Master classes

A graduate in scenography from the National Theater School in 1978, Ginette Noiseux thought of heading into science when she was younger, before falling into the bath of the living arts. “I find in my work of costume design a passion similar to that which I had for physics… The workshop is a laboratory. »

The director has never offended the designer.

In the short or medium term, when sanitary measures allow it, M^me Noiseux wants to organize internships, master classes, for young designers in the costume workshop. “In recent years, many workshops have closed because of budget cuts. The biggest workshop currently… is the Value Village! You have to think about the transmission of knowledge, because theater is an ephemeral art. »

Creating costumes is demanding. It is a job that requires months of research. For example, for The Queens at the TNM, Ginette Noiseux spent nine months researching patterns, colors and materials, before delivering the six dresses worn by the actresses in the fall. “We called them our women-tapestries”, she illustrates, speaking of her costumes inspired by the Middle Ages.

Concretely, how does his design work come about?

“The first thing I do is find the materials, the fabrics with which I will work. Then there are the patterns, the choice of colors, the dyeing tests, the cut… When you go into tailoring, it’s very important to know if a fabric is going to fall well on the body. »

Céline Bonnier, chameleon actress!

For Ginette Noiseux, the costume also nourishes the work of the actor in the composition of his character. Hence the importance of aiming for perfect harmony between bodies and textiles. If a performer is uncomfortable in her costume, she knows it right away. “Dressing a body is fascinating; but a feminine body, even more so, she says. An actress like Céline Bonnier is capable of completely transforming herself from one role to another. Céline can be six feet tall in one production, then get chunky for another role. He’s a chameleon. »

Ginette Noiseux is delighted with the evolution of mentalities since leaving the National Theater School. “At the beginning of the 1980s, a woman scenographer could not be. It was frowned upon by the foremen on the big plateaus. The design world was very misogynistic then. I was angry all the time! Fortunately, three “fairies” leaned over my cradle: André Brassard, Paul Buissonneau and François Barbeau… I’ve always said that it was Barbeau who gave birth to me! »

Today, Ginette Noiseux is serene, and she hopes to pass on, in turn, knowledge for the next generation in theater design.