A play with “exceptional resonance”, carried by a staging and four performers highlighting a daring text: the adaptation ofUnbearable long hugsby Russian-born playwright Ivan Viripaev, won the prize for best show of the year from the Quebec Theater Critics Association.
This honor crowns a prosperous year for this play which will have been on the bill for more than thirty evenings – including an additional December 18 and 19 – at the Prospero theater.
“The playwright’s unique voice was expertly highlighted by the director’s strong, nourished and accomplished vision. Particularly appreciated were the aesthetic coherence and audacity of the proposal, the invested performance of the four performers as well as the existential charge – coated in an alloy of humor and strangeness – of this show with exceptional resonance, both on the individual and societal,” indicates the jury.
Critics were won over by this show staged by Philippe Cyr, artistic director of the theater on rue Ontario, in the Centre-Sud district. The actors Marc Beaupré, Christine Beaulieu, Joanie Guérin and Simon Lacroix deliver a physical, demanding performance in their roles as thirty-somethings on an existential quest.
An award-winning Dalpé
The adaptation of Rome, by Jean Marc Dalpé after William Shakespeare, achieved a double: Madeleine Sarr and Sébastien Ricard were crowned performers of the year. The river play, lasting more than seven hours (including two intermissions), was directed by Brigitte Haentjens and co-produced by Sibyllines, Usine C and the French Theater of the National Arts Center.
The interpreter of Cleopatra “was able to breathe a unique, astonishing and striking vision into a very well-known historical figure”. As for Sébastien Ricard, “the astonishing mastery with which the actor portrayed the emblematic figure of Coriolanus and translated the psychological battles and dilemmas, the vindictive fever, the quest for absolutes with which his character was grappling left the critics speechless “.
The Déraspe year
The author Rébecca Déraspe carves out an enviable place among the winners and finalists of the year 2023. Her play The girls of the Saint Lawrence won the directing prize, awarded to Alexia Bürger. The show, written in collaboration with Annick Lefebvre, was produced by the Center du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui, in co-production with La Colline – theater national.
The adaptation and translation of Rébecca Déraspe, with Frédéric Bélanger, from Twelfth Night, by Shakespeare, won the prize for the costumes designed by Sarah Balleux. Frédéric Bélanger was a finalist for the staging of the show, produced by the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde in collaboration with the Théâtre Advienne que peut.
The ICESfrom Déraspe, was also a finalist in two categories: best show of the year and best interpretation for Daniel Gadouas.
Other winners
The prize for best original text was awarded to The title of the book would be Corinne, by Marie-Christine Lê-Huu “in conversation” with Annie Darisse. It is a co-production of Théâtre Pied de biche and Autels Particulars, in co-diffusion with La Manufacture.
Hugo Bélanger, who wrote and directed Alice on the other sideis the winner in the category of best show for young audiences, a production by Théâtre Tout à trac.
The Making of Pinocchioby Rosana Cade and Ivor MacAskill, an Artsadmin production, presented at the Théâtre Rouge of the Montreal Conservatory of Dramatic Art during the Festival TransAmériques, won the prize for best show created outside Quebec.
A special prize was also awarded to Manikanetishby Naomi Fontaine and Julie-Anne Ranger-Beauregard, based on the novel by Naomi Fontaine, directed by Jean-Simon Traversy, a production by Duceppe.