Mani Soleymanlou wants to “deconstruct the fourth wall”. To explore, to experiment. The artist and his team are settling in for three weeks at La Chapelle Scènes contemporains with three extraordinary events: a Spanish-language cover of his first success, Acombined with a Mexican dance show, then an evening mixing jazz and theater, and finally philosophical workshops for children and their parents.
“La Chapelle is a pretty wonderful space for creation and risk-taking,” summarizes the actor, author, director and screenwriter, met last week on the sidelines of a rehearsal.
We catch him between two commitments, because he has a busy schedule, Mani Soleymanlou: we saw him recently in Before the crash (he plays Patrick), This is how I love you (Coco) and Can you hear me (Frank). We have also seen him on stage, on the big screen and at the National Arts Center in Ottawa, where he has been artistic director for two years.
The artist wants to “shake the cage” and “try new things” to “reach the public”. “In our post-pandemic era, events are more important than ever,” he says.
“A French Iranian from Quebec…”
Mani Soleymanlou returns to his roots at La Chapelle, where his first success, A, was created a dozen years ago. This highly personal show, which recounts the ups and downs of an Iranian forced into exile, has been presented more than 200 times in Quebec and elsewhere in the world: the author recounts his arrival in France, as a child, with his family, their move to the French-speaking communities of Toronto and Ottawa, then their installation in Montreal.
The piece has overtones of Elvis Gratton, this “Québécois Canadian, French Canadian, French North American” (and so on). “In France, I was Iranian. In Toronto, I was for a while an Iranian Frenchman, then a Canadian who quickly became Canadian. In Ottawa, I was a Torontonian-French-Iranian. In Montreal, I am a Torontonian-Arab-Iranian who has lived in France and Ottawa… and today people say to me: “Hey, my guy, you’re from Quebec!” I don’t know anymore,” says Mani Soleymanlou in A.
Friday and Saturday, the play will be performed for the first time by an actor other than Soleymanlou — in Spanish, by Victor Andrés Trelles Turgeon, also well known to Quebec audiences. The two have been great friends since their high school studies in French at the Étienne-Brûlé school in Toronto. They also attended the National Theater School and the University of Ottawa together.
“I have the impression that the Spanish-speaking public of Montreal will identify with this Iranian who arrives in Quebec. Mani is talking about something very personal, but it is the experience of every immigrant,” says Victor Trelles.
The actor of Peruvian origin, who arrived in Canada at preschool age, also questions his identity. “All my life I identified as Peruvian. After going to Peru alone for two months, I came back telling myself that I am neither Peruvian, nor Quebecois, nor Canadian. I don’t know what I am. »
Diversity on screen
Mani Soleymanlou defines himself today as a “Montrealer”. A little over 10 years after creating Ahe is delighted to see more diversity on the screens and on stages in Quebec.
“I can now play a Patrick or a Michel. There are more and more actors in the credits who have names from elsewhere. They no longer just play migrants. They can play a doctor called Abdoul, but it’s a doctor’s role, not a migrant’s role. There is still a long way to go, obviously, but there has been a big change of direction over the last 10 years. »
Despite these giant steps, Mani Soleymanlou deplores the “instrumentalization” of newcomers during the last electoral campaigns. “I no longer consider myself an immigrant, but every election I am reminded of where I come from, and that it is not from here. »
Jazz and chatter
All this may seem very dramatic, but the artist has the gift of making everyone laugh and think with his stories of shifting identities. La Chapelle spectators will get their money’s worth: a cumbia show, a Mexican dance born from the marriage between African drums and the indigenous flute, will be offered in the second part of UNO. A way to broaden the audience for the evening.
On November 9, 10 and 11, the artist will also offer for the first time Zaân where we have the same time as we had, presented with Valaire, who will spice up the evening with jazz notes. Mani Soleymanlou will chat with the public. It will be neither cabaret nor stand-upbut a show that looks like improvisation, and yet is scripted.
Philosophical workshops exploring memories and memory are finally on the program on November 4 and 11 in the morning. Supervised by Léa C. Brillant and Eveline Mailhot-Paquette, children aged 9 to 12 and their parents will reflect on big existential questions: “Are memories precious? Do they augment reality? Can we share them? Should some be deleted? »