Stage echoes | Growing old is a big deal!

Larry Tremblay’s new play, created at the Trident in Quebec this winter, is playing at the Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui, in a production by Claude Poissant. Cross-referenced and lively discussion.

You will never hear Larry Tremblay or Claude Poissant say that… “so it was better before”. “To age well, we must not focus on the world that is changing around us,” thinks Poissant. Instead of always complaining, we must open up more and more, see the broader horizon. Otherwise, our world shrinks infinitely. »

Larry Tremblay’s new play addresses the theme of aging, with five elderly characters who come to terms with the end. “It’s the story of people who are beginning the first movements of their final curtain. With, in their stomach, the fear of losing all their bearings,” summarizes Poissant.

“Growing old is a challenge,” says Larry Tremblay, who will be 70 on April 17. However, personally, I am more concerned about the shift in values ​​in Quebec. Because values ​​change from one generation to the next. I’ll take a concrete example: the future of the French language. »

Getting old is therefore a reflection on aging and our perceptions of this reality. The story is carried by five characters with strong opinions who interact and age visibly on stage! They are defended by so many big names: Sylvie Drapeau, Marie Gignac, Jacques Girard, Jacques Leblanc and Linda Sorgini. The young actor Thomas Boudreault Côté plays Clovis the clown and haunts the stage with his absurd presence.

Various issues

Among the issues addressed in Getting old, there is the decline in the birth rate, immigration, suicide, immigrant workers, the lack of labor in Quebec, particularly to take care of the aging population. “They accused me of all the misfortunes in the world. Pollution, my fault. Deforestation, my fault. The famine in the world, my fault; the melting of the ice, my fault; the death of the bees, my fault,” says Adèle, a mother boomer about his grandchildren.

When asked what he likes in Tremblay’s writing, Poissant replies that his theater never veers into the psychological or didactic.

With Getting oldPoissant signs his sixth play by Larry Tremblay, since The Ventriloquist, in 2001. “It’s a cliché, but many things escape the writer when he writes… Thanks to Claude’s imagination, I see my pieces better; I hear my words better; I rediscover them. A chemistry was established between us,” rejoices the author.

“Larry [Tremblay] transposes all the violence that inhabits him into his writing,” believes Claude Poissant.

The author reminds us of an anecdote on this subject. The first time Michelle Rossignol met him at the Théâtre d’Aujoud’hui, she expected to see a monster arrive in his office. “She was surprised to see a gentle, reserved, shy man in front of her… after reading my texts. »

Although Larry Tremblay is aging, he remains very prolific. Among his projects to follow, there are two adaptations of his notable plays for the cinema. The orange grove, a film produced by Roger Frappier and directed by Murad Abu Eisheh, a (young) 31-year-old Jordanian director. And Final picture of lovecreated by Angela Konrad, at Usine C, which will be written by Simon Boulerice in a big screen production by Attraction images.

From March 18 to April 16, at the Center du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui

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Also on display

Blast

A garage like no other is set up in the Fred-Barry room of the Théâtre Denise-Pelletier: demolition is at the heart of the action! The Théâtre band Pleurer dans’ douche invites the public to question work, power relations as well as various systemic violences. It will also be an opportunity to reflect on the often innocuous objects that surround us, all against the backdrop of live music. An inclusive show designed as a great collective release.

From March 19 to April 6, at the Théâtre Denise-Pelletier

Stéphanie Morin, The Press

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Nederlands Dans Theater

The always excellent and impressive dancers of the Dutch troupe – a favorite Danse Danse company, with good reason, directed since 2020 by Canadian Emily Molnar – are once again on our stages with a triple bill. Featured : Jakea new creation from the brilliant duo composed of Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar (artists associated with NDT), all accompanied by One Flat Thing, reproducedby the renowned choreographer William Forsythe, then completed by The Point Beinga piece created by two former performers of the company, Imre and Marne van Opstal.

From March 20 to 23, at the Théâtre Maisonneuve

Iris Gagnon-Paradis, The Press

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The knot

Presented to a sold-out audience at the Théâtre La Licorne in 2022, the play The knot is currently on tour with a new cast composed of Sandra Dumaresq and Édith Paquet. One is the mother of an 11-year-old child who killed himself. The other was his teacher. Together, the two women will try to understand the inexplicable, despite their clashing visions and the guilt that eats away at them. A text by the American Johnna Adams, directed by Guillermina Kerwin. A stop is planned at the Cinquième Salle at Place des Arts on March 26, but the Quebec tour continues until December.

Stéphanie Morin, The Press

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Bachelor

Dolorès, central character of the play imagined in 1979 by Louis Saia, Michel Rivard and Louise Roy, is back. This time, it’s Monika Pilon who dons the clothes of this Eaton’s window dresser who doesn’t keep her tongue in her pocket. It must be said that at the time, everything was said and no subject was taboo… Especially not the desire to please at all costs which grips Dolores and locks her in a trap. The production of this tragicomedy, a true gem of the Quebec repertoire, was entrusted to Édith Cochrane. The piece will be presented at the Cinquième Salle at Place des Arts on March 21, 22, 23 and 31 as well as on March 1^er, April 2 and 3. A Quebec tour is planned until April 2025.

Stéphanie Morin, The Press

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And then through the window we will be able to see the fields

Henri Chassé and Danielle Proulx dominate the cast of this play about a rural family like any other where they love and argue with each other with the same passion. Except that here it’s about departures, the city that makes its song heard, agricultural succession and a father who can’t take it anymore. A text by Stéphanie Labbé, directed by Gabrielle Lessard, who enjoyed great success during her appearance at the Théâtre du Bic.

At the Théâtre de La Bordée, in Quebec, from March 27 to April 6

Stéphanie Morin, The Press

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