Quebec playwright Normand Chaurette died Wednesday at the age of 68, confirmed to The Press his agency, Goodwin.
Updated yesterday at 10:31 p.m.
“I can’t believe that person doesn’t exist on Earth anymore. I had wished him a happy birthday on July 9. He was only 68 years old, ”drops the actor, director and Quebec director Yves Desgagnés, who has collaborated with Normand Chaurette since 1982.
He is an extremely important guy in Quebec dramaturgy and above all one of the world’s Shakespeare specialists. He was a kind of poet of the French language.
Yves Desgagnes
Normand Chaurette is the author of 12 plays published since 1980. He has won the Governor General’s Literary Award four times, for Indiana Crossing, The little Köchel, What dies last and his test how to kill shakespeare. He is also the author of a novel, Children’s scenes, and some short stories published for the most part by Leméac Éditeur. He has also translated and adapted several plays by Shakespeare for Quebec productions.
The Queens was the first Canadian play performed at the Comédie-Française. Several of his plays have also enjoyed success abroad, such as Meti’s societys, played in Italy, while Indiana Crossing and The little Köchel were premiered at the Avignon Festival in a staging by Denis Marleau.
Yves Desgagnés will remember Normand Chaurette as a lover of actors and the theatre, a “being of great culture” and a “great pedagogue”. Mr. Chaurette until recently taught in the playwriting section of the National Theater School. “He trained a lot of students in dramaturgy,” he says.
A final tribute
“I am taken aback by this sudden disappearance, confides the artistic and general director of the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde (TNM), Lorraine Pintal. This is sad, sad news. The TNM had presented its play last November The Queensdirected by Denis Marleau.
The great luck we had, without knowing it, was to pay tribute to him through this masterpiece, not knowing that he was going to disappear over the next few months.
Lorraine Pintal, director of the TNM
Mr. Chaurette had attended the play and the readings on several occasions. “He was very illuminating in his words,” said Ms.me Pintal, who describes him as a “secret” man, “rather shy” and “who did not seek the light at all”.
Remembering his work
In order to honor his memory, Yves Desgagnés invites the public “to read or reread all of Normand Chaurette’s work”.
Lorraine Pintal agrees. “The duty of artists is to bring Normand Chaurette back up and make his voice heard again. There are many of his pieces that haven’t been performed for a long time, like The little Köchel. »
She would like Normand Chaurette’s work to be studied in schools. “It has to be read by young people, because it’s a theater that is accessible. Theater schools need to play it. This is how we will remember him, otherwise the work will die,” she concludes.