Ginette Noiseux, who in 1990 transformed the Women’s Experimental Theater (TEF) into Espace Go, today announced her forthcoming departure from this theatre. The 64-year-old set designer, artistic director and co-general manager will sign her last season in 2024.
“What I want for Espace Go is to achieve greater openness”, says the director with her disarming frankness. “Can a talented woman from a racialized community aspire to artistic direction today? asks Ginette Noiseux.
“What does it take to make this happen? It is clear that we still need to bring greater diversity to the team and to the board of directors. Although we are making progress, the work is not finished, we have not yet achieved true inclusiveness. »
The departure of M.me Noiseux is scheduled for June 30, 2024. “It doesn’t leave that much room, it goes very quickly when you’re looking for someone. »
Devoted to the words and imaginations of women, Espace Go (which has never been an activist theatre, according to Ginette Noiseux) is a mutation of the TEF, founded in 1979 by Pol Pelletier, Nicole Lecavalier and Louise Laprade. “I was 23 when I joined the Women’s Experimental Theater,” recalls Ms.me Noisey, smile in voice. “We were so poor! I lived in the theater between two racks of costumes on a cot. The restaurant nearby called me at 3 am to give me leftovers so I could eat. It is no longer imaginable today. »
Solidarity against the backlash
Ginette Noiseux has followed from her theater — and through her theater — the movements and movements of feminism, the words and conditions of women. “I think the commitment of current generations is absolute. “At the time, feminism served mainly the cause of white women from the middle and wealthy classes,” she continues.
“Despite the immense merits of the women of my generation, we were absolutely not informed of the priorities and experiences of working-class women, immigrants, Afro-descendants, for example. Now, “we are talking about feminisms, in the plural”.
Today, M.me Noiseux fears a boomerang effect. ” I’m worried. Simone de Beauvoir said: “Never forget that all it takes is a political, economic or religious crisis for women’s rights to be called into question. These rights are never acquired. You will have to remain vigilant throughout your life.” We are there. »
“We are currently seeing it, analyzes Ginette Noiseux. We had made great strides before the pandemic — the theater is always the mirror of society — we saw during the health crisis that it was women who paid the highest economic cost of the pandemic. There, we will enter a recession, and as at the end of the 1980s, in the Reagan and Thatcher era, or as later during the economic crisis of 1992, after a small boom in feminism, it will be time reactionaries and the return of the pendulum. »
“We have a lot of warning signs of a backlash. There is a latent exasperation right now with gender issues, issues of respect for the body and the sovereignty of women. ” The solution ? Solidarity, she believes, and sisterhood.
The legacy
What can we remember today from the legacy of Ginette Noiseux? “She saved the TEF by deciding to take care of it”, first underlines Paul Lefevbre. The dramaturgical adviser at the Center for Dramatic Authors continues: “She gave the community a remarkable theatrical place” in Montreal at the corner of Saint-Laurent and Saint-Joseph. “It’s a good and beautiful room. »
Paul Lefebvre continues his analysis. “Mme Noiseux was able to give scope to the creations, which includes financial means. She changed the discourse of the theater on itself. The place of the theater in the city, in Quebec, it is Go who brought that. And Ginette Noiseux leaves a healthy theater. »
What will M dome Noiseux at the end of next summer? “I will have more time to devote myself to my passion, costume design. It was a sacrifice in my career. I want to think about what it is, artistic direction in the XXIe century. And I will continue the reflection on feminism. ” No break feminism, then? She laughs on the phone. ” Impossible ! It’s a lifestyle ! »
“It was such a space of freedom for me, Espace Go, knowing that freedom is a commitment. I wish all this freedom to the next artistic director — hey, I’m speaking in the feminine, I shouldn’t… And I know I’m going to be surprised. »