This text is part of the special section Culture Montérégie
Created in 1975 in Montreal, the Théâtre de la Dame de Cœur is now firmly rooted in its community, in Upton, in Montérégie. It’s a whole ecosystem that is activated to create extraordinary shows in an oversized space. Key word: surprise.
Co-founder of the research and creation company, Richard Blackburn recounts its genesis. “We made the choice to go and settle in the regions. It was a somewhat crazy project, if we go back 44 years. We found an abandoned site, moved in and squatted there for 10 years. We have established a relationship with the people in the area. We left our apartments in Montreal to settle here full time and we developed our way of working. Our objective was very simple: to meet a new audience. We wanted to find a new way to practice our profession, let ourselves be influenced by the environment and have fun on the scenographic level. »
A successful bet, since the company is collecting successes. Today, nine buildings stand on the site — which has been theirs for more than thirty years. From the beginning, the territory strongly influenced the artistic direction.
“The space and the plains where we find ourselves, at the end of the Montérégie, made us interested in oversize. Why go back to a “normal” theater when we can be outside, in nature? […] This is what means that we end up with a theater with swivel benches, heated shoulder straps on the seats and a huge roof – signed Pierre Thibault – above us, but no walls. This allows us to make a theater in four dimensions. »
Four sizes? “One of the advantages of theater is being able to exist in real time around the audience, above the audience and through the audience,” explains the general and artistic director. Added to these aspects is temporality. “The notion of time is important,” he continues. We want to give the public an experience, events that happen in history belong to a notion of time. For example, having a bird 30 feet across the room, which unfolds and spins. Time can then expand and contract. »
Creating a new show takes about three years. Nothing is left to chance. “You have to get into the mindset of something you’ve never done before,” says Blackburn.
stories for families
Composed of multidisciplinary creators, the core of the Théâtre de la Dame de Cœur has developed its own working methods over the years, including models and animation in stop-motion. The objective is to give both children and adults a good time and to limit the risks.
In the new creation which will be presented in the summer of 2022, Victor and the Gift of Dreams, spectators will be immersed in a dreamlike universe. On his birthday, an ambitious young man meets in a dream a ruddy hamster who wants to help him succeed in his life. Helped by his magician grandmother, he will experience an adventure as surprising as it is essential. “It’s really an allegory that we will offer to the public”, concludes Richard Blackburn.