A keen observer of the failings of our society, the playwright Olivier Choinière found in the events of the maple spring a lasting inspiration, which still carries him 10 years later. As proof: his most recent play, Zoeis a snapshot.
Posted yesterday at 12:00 p.m.
In this play, first presented at the Théâtre Denise-Pelletier in 2020 – and which will be repeated starting March 10 across Quebec –, two characters confront each other. Zoé is a student in CEGEP and obtained an injunction to continue her studies despite the unlimited general strike that was voted. Luc is a philosophy professor and is forced to teach this young woman who clashes with his value system. Between this proud “green square” and this “red square” of hearts, no dialogue seems possible. And yet…
“This story matured at home for years, says Olivier Choinière. During Maple Spring, I met philosophy professors who had been forced to teach students who had applied for court injunctions compelling the college to give them their courses. I found it both absurd and fascinating as a situation… So I did a few interviews in anticipation of making a show out of it. The text, published by Atelier 10, was a finalist for the Governor General’s Literary Awards (theatre category) in 2020.
PHOTO GUNTHER GAMPER PROVIDED BY THE THEATER L’ACTIVITE
Zoé Tremblay-Bianco sings the title role of Olivier Choinière’s play, Zoe.
However, long before the birth of Zoe, the maple spring had left an undeniable imprint on his work. “As early as 2013, in my room Mommy, there were obvious nods to current events and the student movement. The character of the grandmother preached to young people exactly as the government could address young people during this period. Moreover, the room public enemy dealt among other things with cleavage. »
This is the direct result of the impact that the maple spring situation may have had on society, then on my family: the conversations we had around the table were extremely polarized. For this piece, it’s as if I had put the recorder on the table to record my family…
Olivier Choinière, playwright and director
“Undeniably, something of the maple spring has remained in me, despite the passing years,” he emphasizes.
PHOTO VALÉRIE PROVIDED BY THÉÂTRE L’ACTIVITÉ
Presented in 2015, the piece public enemy approached the theme of cleavage within the same family.
The man of the theater quickly displayed his colors in 2012. From May, when gatherings of more than 50 people were still considered illegal, he spoke during the Festival TransAmériques by reading an unequivocal text in support for the student movement.
History repeating itself
Even today, the cleavage of society observable in the spring of 2012 and the impossibility of any form of dialogue between the different clans fascinate him. “There were gray areas and complexities initially, but at some point the conversation went to extremes. Generations were pitted against each other. It was scary to watch that. »
He continues: “When the government said that the red square symbolized violence, for example, there was a certain form of propaganda which had repercussions in the media and in the conversations that we had in society or in society. ‘privacy. »
PHOTO MARCO CAMPANOZZI, THE PRESS
This event came to crystallize what is happening today with COVID and the anti-mask or anti-vax movement. Conversation, suddenly, is no longer possible.
Olivier Choinière, playwright and director
“The big question for me today is to know how we manage to reconcile or not individual freedoms and collective freedoms. The two were already in opposition in 2012: a majority of students were in the street to express themselves, but others, like Zoé, said: “No, I have rights. I have the right to study.” And this opposition between the collective and the individual is still present today, with those who refuse to wear the mask, for example. »
He also draws a parallel between the illegal gatherings of 2012 and the health measures imposed by the pandemic, which limit the number of people who can meet in the flesh. “The importance of the gathering was already at stake in 2012, and 10 years later, for other reasons and in other contexts, we are still in the same situation. The importance of the gathering is undeniable for the theater, but it is also for all of society. For me, this question remains very virulent.
“Spring maple was a historically important movement in a society that is said to be not very involved or very committed. The movement started with students, but spread elsewhere within the general population. There has been, I think, an important collective awakening. But we could also see the authoritarian and aggressive face of the government, in my opinion. We see that everything can change quickly in society. Besides, I have the impression that the police presence has increased a lot in Montreal since 2012!
“It’s a moment of social crisis that revealed a lot of things, in our relationship to others, in the way we look at other generations and in what we consider important or not as a society. Education, for example, may not be as important a value as people think…”