It is undoubtedly the most important documentary piece to be produced since I love Hydro. For five years, Justin Laramée has been interested in the Quebec dairy industry and its flaws. milk run spare no one: producers, unions, processors, governments, consumers, everyone goes through it.
Initially, the author, actor and director wanted to know why psychological distress and suicide rates were so high among dairy farmers. Paired with scientist Ginette Lafleur as part of a project presented at the OFFTA in 2016, he created a sound installation entitled Before leaving.
“We realized that in their farewell letters, the producers listed everything there was to do on their farm, things to remember… We were therefore inspired by these letters, but as if they delegated tasks to go on vacation, because they need a little freedom, they work all the time! »
The dairy industry later found itself at the heart of the news: the questioning of supply management, the renegotiation of NAFTA (which opened 10% of the Canadian market to foreign products), the excluding milk from the food guide, etc.
Encouraged by Anabel Soutar, Christine Beaulieu (I love Hydro) and several collaborators, including his accomplice Benoît Côté – who will be on stage with him – Justin Laramée has set foot in the stirrup to create what looks like a one-man show. “In 2018, a major demonstration by dairy farmers to preserve supply management was the trigger for me. I went there, I spoke to them. »
I wanted to understand why half of the dairy farms in Quebec had disappeared 20 years ago, when we supply nearly half of the milk in Canada!
Justin Laramee
Little by little, Justin Laramée got answers. “First of all, our cows are performing better and better, it’s a matter of feeding and genetics,” he explains. And then, as in many other areas, there is a lack of succession. Finally, there is a consolidation of large farms. Medium farms tend to disappear…”
The title of his play is inspired by encounters during his investigation over the past five years.
I begin with my meeting with a dairy farmer, who sold her farm after the suicide of her husband; she tells me to go see her neighbor who has bought his farm; and he tells me to meet this other person. That’s how I built my milk run.
Justin Laramee
In his show, Justin Laramée reminds us that people drink less milk, but eat more cheese and yogurt. The resurgence of butter – which fell out of favor in favor of margarine for a number of years – has also boosted demand for milk. An increased demand that forces producers to produce more and more.
“Nine out of ten cows do not see the light of day,” says the playwright. It made me think about the living conditions of animals. And to the fact that in order to give milk, cows have to give birth every year. The problem is that half the time it’s a male, who won’t give milk, and there’s far too much of it. As it costs too much to fatten them up, we kill tens of thousands of them every year…”
That’s not all. Justin Laramée tells us about the scandal of diafiltered milk, a liquid protein imported from the United States – to escape customs tariffs – and added to our cheeses for 15 years (protein that contains growth hormones). The problem is that everyone passes the buck.
What the consumer can do, minimally? “Buy products with a blue or black cow, which guarantees that there are no dairy products from abroad,” advises Justin Laramée.
After his series at La Licorne, milk run – presented in Quebec in the spring – will go on tour in Quebec. Forty dates are already scheduled.
We need to have a real national conversation around our most important agricultural production, animal welfare, climate change, in connection with our autonomy and our food self-sufficiency. It’s a show about Quebec.
Justin Laramee
The distances traveled by the cows that we consume are of particular interest to him. “We have 375,000 cows to slaughter in Quebec and more slaughterhouses. This means that our cow leaves Drummondville, has its tag removed to be slaughtered in Pennsylvania, where it is deboned before being sent to Alberta and sent back 8000 km further to an A&W… in Drummondville. I will be working on this for the next two years. How is it that we are one of the largest cow breeders in the world and we are unable to know where the meat we eat comes from? »
Good question.
At La Licorne from November 22 to December 21. On tour throughout Quebec in 2023.
Also on display
You won’t believe me
PHOTO EVA-MAUDE TC, PROVIDED BY LA LICORNE
Mattis Savard-Verhoeven and Mary-Lee Picknell are reunited on stage for the play You won’t believe me.
In a country torn by war, two former lovers find themselves in an abandoned factory and together foment the greatest project of resistance: that of loving each other. On the intimate stage of La Licorne, Mary-Lee Picknell and Mattis Savard-Verhoeven defend the words of Guillaume Lapierre-Desnoyers, directed by Frédéric Blanchette. A first creation on stage for this text hailed with a special mention at the 2019 Gratien-Gélinas awards.
At La Licorne, from November 14 to December 8
Stephanie Morin, The Press
Plastic
PHOTO ELIOT LAPRISE, PROVIDED BY THE UNICORN
Plastic brings together several masked characters who try to survive despite the disappearance of the oil.
A little-exploited form despite its infinite possibilities, mask theater comes to Salle Fred-Barry at Théâtre Denise-Pelletier with the play Plastic, by Félix Emmanuel and Zoé Girard. “Poetic, lucid and comic analogy of the climate crisis”, this satirical dystopia set in 2122 brings together on stage a crowd of archetypal characters with amplified faces. In the lot, some persist in believing that the secret of eternal life would be hidden in the rare plastic hidden on the globe…
At the Théâtre Denise-Pelletier, from November 22 to December 10
Stephanie Morin, The Press
Scissors
PHOTO JÉRÉMIE BATTAGLIA, PROVIDED BY ESPACE LIBRE
In ScissorsMélodie Noël Rousseau (above) and Geneviève Labelle want to cut lesbophobic clichés into pieces.
Documentary theater piece focusing on the queer memory of Montreal from a feminist point of view, Scissors unfolds from documentary material, drag numbers and speeches by personalities of sexual and gender diversity such as Manon Massé, Safia Nolin or Judith Lussier. On the Espace Libre stage, the authors and performers Geneviève Labelle and Mélodie Noël Rousseau want to reclaim lesbophobic clichés to better deconstruct them. A show that aims to be resolutely festive, filled with humor and authenticity.
At Espace Libre, from November 15 to December 3
Stephanie Morin, The Press
The garden of delights
PHOTO SYLVIE-ANN PARE, PROVIDED BY USINE C
The garden of delightsat Factory C
This is a unique opportunity to see this memorable creation by Marie Chouinard, presented only once in Montreal to date. Inspired by the grandiose painting by the Dutch painter Jérôme Bosch, a triptych considered by many to be one of the greatest paintings to have existed, The garden of delights imagined by Chouinard echoes it with a work in three acts – The Garden of Earthly Delights, Hell, Heaven. Grandiose, the piece, first created in 2016 in the wake of the 500e anniversary of the painter’s death, deploys moving reproductions, painted scenes and playful dances bringing to life on stage positions and accessories found on the canvas. A phantasmagorical fresco to see or see again.
At Usine C, from November 17 to 19, then from November 23 to 26
Iris Gagnon-Paradise, The Press
The coronation of Lila
PHOTO AMEN LAHCEN, PROVIDED BY AGORA DE LA DANCE
The coronation of Lilaby Ismael Mouaraki
Lila’s ceremonies, traditional mystical rituals from the land from which it draws part of its roots, Morocco, have inspired choreographer Ismaël Mouaraki for this new creation which promises to be the most personal in his company’s repertoire, Destins Croisés. . On stage, a group of dancers from Quebec and Morocco come together in a ritual revealing the sensitivity and sensuality of the male body, while Mouaraki continues to explore his signature body language, a blend of urban and contemporary dance. All on a soundtrack combining Moroccan traditions and electronic influences, composed by Antoine Berthiaume in collaboration with the Oktoecho collective and under the artistic direction of Katia Makdissi-Warren.
At the Agora de la danse, from November 23 to 26
Iris Gagnon-Paradise, The Press
The engine room
PHOTO SARAH TATINE, PROVIDED BY CEAD
Phara Thibault is among the playwrights who will be read during the event The engine room.
For the second year, the Center du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui is hosting the event The engine room of the Center for Dramatic Authors of Quebec (CEAD). This is an opportunity for the public to hear unpublished texts that could find their way to the stage. Renowned actors such as Didier Lucien, Frédéric Dubois or Alice Ronfard will read texts signed by Maud de Palma-Duquet (winner of the Gratien-Gélinas 2022 prize for Volunteer), Phara Thibault or Pénélope Deraîche-Dallaire, in particular.
At the Center du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui, from November 15 to 19
Stephanie Morin, The Press