La Seizième

Photo © Emily Cooper

You directed Lentement la beauté in 2009. What do you want to approach from a different angle in 2025?

Lentement la beauté focuses on a character’s questions to himself: “What am I doing here? Why? How am I living my life?” These are questions everyone asks themselves, and they evolve with us. Sixteen years ago, I was obviously in a different phase of my life. The world, too, has changed since 2009. What interests me now is this need to be together, to share a moment with an audience. I want to observe this connection, to explore it in depth: what does it mean to be gathered in this theatre, on a March evening, in Vancouver, in 2025?

What moved you about this text at the time? Does it still resonate today?

It’s an excellent text, built on a simple idea: being able to find beauty in the small moments of life. Many people — including myself — think: “I work Monday to Friday. Then I have two weekend days, where I’m running around, doing this for the kids, that for the house”. It’s crucial to see the meaning, the beauty, the importance of everything we do and to value the little things in our lives. They add up and become something bigger. That idea struck me back then, and it still does today.

Lentement la beauté was co-produced by la Seizième and L’UniThéâtre. How was the play significant for both companies?

It was truly a turning point. Lentement la beauté was our first collaboration aimed at a main stage audience. The artistic director Daniel Cournoyer and I had talked many times about working together. We had great mutual respect for the artists from our respective provinces. This production allowed us to create connections between our artists, our designers, and our audiences. The designers came from both places, and to this day, some of them still collaborate with us. We were able to expand this family.

We truly reached the audience with this production. We were sold out in Vancouver. There were lines, crowds, spectators coming back… I remember one audience member who saw the show four or five times because it moved her. It was fascinating. She told me she discovered something new each time.

It was also the first time la Seizième was recognized at the Jessie Richardson Awards, with several nominations. We were starting to be seen as a high-quality theatre company working in French.

You’re directing part of the original cast: Joey Lespérance, reprising his role, along with France Perras and Mireille Moquin. How does it feel to work with these artists again?

Joey and I have continued working together, especially during the writing phase of Michel(le). He and France were among the artists I collaborated with until my final days at la Seizième. As for Mireille, I’ve known her for a long time. For me, to make a successful reading, it was essential to have actors who were part of the original cast. But I also wanted us to bring in new performers.

This time, the process will only last a week…

It will be a completely different kind of work, especially since this is no longer what I do for a living. The fact that everything is aligning so that I can direct the reading for five days really touches me.

What makes the beauty of theatre, for you?

For me, it’s always a meeting. When starting a production, you meet a text. I will always remember certain texts, certain first encounters that stayed with me ten, fifteen, or even twenty years after the first reading. Each time, it feels like a love affair. It’s vibrant, fragile, exciting. The energy you feel when you meet designers, performers…

And there’s the audience. I’ve always loved Studio 16. In my life, I think I’ve only seen two or three full performances from the audience. I was always up in the control booth, observing the audience and their reactions. It always made me incredibly happy to be able to meet them afterward.

As for my first encounter with Lentement la beauté… I attended the Fenêtres de la création théâtrale in Longueuil, Quebec, many years ago. Michel Nadeau and his team wanted to give a preview to the distributors to produce the play. I saw the first few minutes of the production, and I was deeply moved. We were the first theatre to obtain the rights outside of the original production. That encounter lasted several years, and it continues today. I find it extremely exciting.