Once a month, The Pressinspired by the magazine’s “Socrates Questionnaire” Philosophyquestions a personality on the big questions of life. This Sunday, Alex Perron, who plays Albin in The crazy cagepresented at the Studio-Cabaret de l’Espace St-Denis until October 20, answers our questions.
Are we free?
Freedom is relative. Mine ends where everyone else’s begins! But that suits me. I feel free. I am free to live my life as a gay guy, in a country and a province where I don’t have to hide. I chose a profession that I love and that I can practice with its ups and downs. I am free to practice a religion or not. I can express myself a lot more freely than in many places in the world.
What do you remember from your education?
The most important thing about education is what we decide to do with it afterwards. The way we will integrate it into our daily life and build it over time. […] I am responsible for what I am and what I become. This is the most important lesson of our education. We can blame many things and people… But it is us, in the end, who chart our course.
PHOTO CATHERINE LEFEBVRE, ARCHIVES SPECIAL COLLABORATION
Alex Perron
What torments your conscience?
Torment is a word with a lot of meaning. I don’t consider myself tormented. Concerned about many things, yes! Our planet is going to hell when I know very well that I’m not the one doing the most. I am often this modest person who does not always name the essential things and who regrets it when it is too late. It’s cliché, but I’m trying to be a better person, it’s a good start to avoid conscience issues.
The perfect place or state of mind?
The perfect state of mind is found in my mental and physical balance. There is no single perfect state of mind: there are as many as there are human beings. And over the course of our lives, our balance changes according to our personal evolution. You can lose your balance, that’s okay. But as long as we try to find him. And it’s not something we have to justify to others, it belongs to us.
A quality you will never have?
Patience. I’m impatient with humans for a ton of reasons. I’m impatient because life doesn’t move at my pace. I am impatient with the bad faith, with the great victimization of people, with the laziness and the I-don’t-care attitude. I know I would be a better person if the Patience Fairy had filled my patience bag to the brim… But that’s not me. I often heave long sighs… it doesn’t solve anything, but it feels good!
A recurring dream or nightmare?
When I experience a period of stress at work or a big exit from my comfort zone, I always have the same dream. During my early twenties, I worked as an assistant manager in a store of the now defunct Le Château chain and I dream of returning to work there, but that I am totally incompetent! I no longer know how to operate the cash register, I am unable to make a schedule and I no longer understand the clothing sizing system. It makes me angry because like back then, I want to perform and be the best. Everyone is waiting for me to give them directions, but I’m frozen in place and can’t do anything!
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Alex Perron
A perfect place to dream and create?
I was born in Charlevoix, in Port-au-Persil. It’s not even a village, it’s a road that leaves the 138 for three or four kilometers to return to the 138. But it’s magnificent! Two mountain hollows that flow into the Saint-Laurent! […] This is often where I have made my best life decisions. As if calming down in my neck of the woods gave me the step back to see the whole picture.
A beautiful death, in your opinion?
I don’t know if there’s such a thing as a beautiful death… In the sense that dying isn’t that exciting, it seems to me! It means to stop being there. With those around us. But hey, if I had to create a fun scenario, it would be on the edge of the quay in my corner of Charlevoix, we would drink champagne and with a gospel choir, we would sing Like a Prayer by Madonna on loop until I close the trap for good… Then throw me in the river!
Complete the sentence: If God exists…
…it’s high time he gave us a sign and came to bring some order to the universe he created in seven days! On the other hand, you should allow more than a week. He has his work cut out for him! He could start by updating a new edition of his Bible and making it a lot clearer for us, because obviously, it’s quite open to interpretation. And let him bring a solid brigade of cleanliness angels because the earth needs a big cleaning!
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