Posted yesterday at 9:00 a.m.
Two years after the death of writer Vickie Gendreau, Mathieu Arsenault began to dream of his great friend who had disappeared.
“There was a coherence in these dreams that didn’t belong to me,” says the writer.
These dreams and the emotions that accompanied them served as inspiration to Mathieu Arsenault for his most recent book, entitled The dead and published in 2020 by Le Quartanier editions. But here is that The dead takes to the stage (in Montreal, then in Quebec), under the direction of director Christian Lapointe and with the title We are shining forever looking for the entrance to the realm of the dead.
Eve Landry, the elected
Christian Lapointe “sampled” the unique text of Mathieu Arsenault to draw three scores, three monologues that correspond to three distinct points of view. While Mathieu Arsenault renders the writer’s score himself, actress Eve Landry embodies the figure of Vickie Gendreau as she appears in dreams, while Mélodie Bujold-Henri dresses up as the narrator who also acts as ferryman between the realm of the living and that of the dead.
The choice of Eve Landry was dictated by Vickie Gendreau herself.
Vickie saw Eve in a public reading even before the latter was known for Unit 9. Vickie had been blown away by her acting intelligence. She said that if an actress were to portray her one day, she would want it to be her. And Eve really does shiner Vickie’s words across the room.
Mathieu Arsenault, author
But beware ! It would be wrong to believe that We are shining is a tribute show to Vickie Gendreau, who died of a brain tumor in 2013, at the age of 24. “It’s more about Mathieu’s experience of seeing Vickie in his dreams,” explains Christian Lapointe. Eve Landry does not play Vickie, but a simulacrum of her. Nor is it a documentary theater play on the tragedy that Mathieu experienced. It would not be interesting for the public. We are shining wants to be a feast of the dead. It’s not a compelling show, even if the subject remains death. We take this subject and turn it upside down. We give him air. We don’t do anything austere like in a funeral home. »
Mathieu Arsenault continues: “This show is a ghost party, because it celebrates the fact that we are not left alone when people leave. Humanity is not just limited to humans. Yes, death is serious, we are not going to hide it, but in mourning, there is not just sadness. In this show, we talk shit ! It’s epic, tragic, funny, like normal grief. My story serves as a conduit to open the door to the ghosts of everyone in the room. »
Matter of emotions
The word “ghost” is launched, but Mathieu Arsenault wishes to clarify: “Ghosts are not religious or esoteric entities for me. These are emotions that rise in us and that do not belong to us, emotions that allow us to come into contact with the image of the absent. Ghosts are internal, not external. »
Sometimes I see things in the rehearsal room, Eve Landry turns around and emotions rise. There’s something Vickie about it. A ghost passed…
Mathieu Arsenault, author
To “give some air” to this party, Christian Lapointe called on Navet Confit to compose electronic music inspired by the synthwave of the 1990s. “It was the music of Vickie’s twenties, says Mathieu Arsenault. It’s a very danceable music that speaks to the body, inspired by video games and horror films of the 1980s. There is almost an aesthetic of satanic mass! Navet arrived with something tragic and epic. Something to dance melancholy. »
We are shining forever looking for the entrance to the realm of the dead is presented from October 6 to 15 at La Chapelle, in Montreal, as part of the Phénomena festival, and from November 16 to 26 at the Théâtre Périscope in Quebec City.
Notebook
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE DENISE-PELLETIER THEATER
Sylvio Arriola and Pamela Dumont in Lola does not exist
Lolita does not exist
Intriguing proposal from the young author and actress Paméla Dumont. Her play is inspired by the story of Florence Sally Horner, told in The Real Lolita, by journalist Sarah Weinman (2018). In 1948, an 11-year-old girl is kidnapped by a 50-year-old man, who abuses her for two years before being arrested. In Lolita does not exista teenager decides to follow an older man to Atlantic City on an ambiguous and dangerous road trip.
From October 4 to 22 at Salle Fred-Barry
PHOTO VALÉRIE PROVIDED BY ESPACE GO
Emilie Monnet in Okinum
Okinum
This immersive performance by Émilie Monnet created in 2018 is repeated this month at Espace Go, where the multidisciplinary artist continues her artist residency. The solo available in three languages (French, English and Anishinaabemowin) is built on the theme of dreams, which, according to the playwright, allows “the ancestors to communicate with us”. Okinum is interested, among other things, in inner barriers, “a poetic metaphor for the disease that hampers our bodies”.
From October 4 to 22 at Espace Go
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE PROSPERO
The guardian of the children is a play for the informed public, which mixes personal narrative and fiction.
The guardian of the children
The intimate room of the Prospero lends itself well here to the confidences of Charles Voyer, who discusses a painful past. Victim of touching while he was attending a daycare service, the young man takes stock of the effects that this episode may have had on his youth, his adolescence and his adult life. At the crossroads of performance and body art, The guardian of the children mixes personal story and fiction, in a staging by JJ Houle. For informed public.
From October 4 to 22 in the intimate room of Prospero
PHOTO PASCALE METHOT, PROVIDED BY LA LICORNE
The title of the book would be Corinne is a solo by Annie Darisse.
The title of the book would be Corinne
In this solo show written by Marie-Christine Lê-Huu, actress Annie Darisse (Sing with me, Gametes, The girls of the Saint-Lawrence) tackles a very personal tragedy: the death of his sister and his niece in a road accident in 2014 between Saint-Fabien and Le Bic. An opportunity to reflect on “mourning and the transmission of female legacies”. This intimate show is directed by Denise-Pelletier’s artistic director, Claude Poissant.
From October 11 to 28 at the Little Unicorn
PHOTO PROVIDED BY ESPACE LIBRE
Charles Bender in The Wabush enclosure. He will be surrounded by Marie-Josée Bastien, Joanie Guérin, Dave Jenniss, René Rousseau and Émily Séguin.
The Wabush Pen
Created last year via webcast, the play by Wendat author Louis-Karl Picard-Sioui is finally brought to the stage in front of an audience in a staging by Daniel Brière and Dave Jenniss. Inspired by the collection Chronicles of Kitchike: the big one arrivesby Louis-Karl Picard-Sioui, published in 2017, The Wabush Pen focuses on Pierre Wabush (Charles Bender), who has become an outcast in his community after exposing his leader’s corruption to the media.
From October 12 to 29 at Espace libre
PHOTO YVES RENAUD, PROVIDED BY THE TNM
Gilles Renaud (right) is Michel Tremblay’s alter ego in the play Dear Chekhov. Behind: Patrick Hivon and Henri Chassé.
The TNM awards its prizes
The TNM presented its Gascon-Roux prizes (awarded by subscribers) last week. The room Dear Chekhov, by Michel Tremblay, won four — direction (Serge Denoncourt), sets (Guillaume Lord), lighting (Martin Labrecque) and original music (Laurier Rajotte). Ginette Noiseux received an award for her costumes in The Queens, the late Normand Chaurette; Eve Landry won an acting award for her role as DD Katrine Stockmann in An enemy of the people, by Henrik Ibsen; while Théodore Pellerin was rewarded for his role as Hugo Lessard in kissby Michel Marc Bouchard, for which he also received the Olivier Reichenbach prize (awarded by a jury).