La Seizième

Blanche has just had her first child. Her evenings are spent listening to her baby cry, and her days, watching her breathe, obsessed by the thought of something happening to her. Refusing to be remembered as a case of parental neglect, she has become a mother and a pale version of her former self. When Charlène, her friend who happens to be terrified of motherhood, penetrates the chaos that has become Blanche’s existence, their certainties falter. Can a friendship survive the birth of a new violence within?

In this abrasive piece, developed through our artistic incubator, Caroline Bélisle explores the entanglements between femininity and guilt. Two women probe the traumas of childhood memories, and the buried impulses that appear, inescapably, after giving birth. As dramatic as it is funny, Liste des enfants dévorés par les loups depicts the paralyzing anxiety of our times… with bite.

Production Théâtre la Seizième (Vancouver) – Text Caroline Bélisle – Direction Cory Haas – Performance Siona Gareau-Brennan, Gabrielle Morin – Dramaturgie David Paquet – Production design Alaia Hamer – Sound design and composition Matthew Tomkinson, Andy Zuliani – Lighting design Robert Sondergaard – Fight choreography Sam Jeffery – Stage management Melanie Thompson – Technical direction Phil Miguel – Set construction Great Northern Way – Rabbit mask Flying Fox Prop Shop – With the support of la Société de Développement Économique de la Colombie-Britannique, programme FrancoZone, les Rendez-vous de la Francophonie

Bob and Fran have worked hard to give their four children the opportunities they never had. Now that the nest is empty, time to slow down and enjoy the simpler things. But parenting as a job never quite stops. Behind the garden’s fence, where the roses bloom, shocking secrets will shatter the tranquil appearance of this quiet household.

Ce que je sais de vrai depicts the complicated nature of family – and marriage – through the eyes of four siblings struggling to define who they are beyond what their parents expect of them. Embraces come undone, conflicts erupt and truths surface as the siblings reunite. A bittersweet portrait of six people in crisis, that poses the question: is it possible to love too deeply?

Claire, a social worker and interventionist, works the night shift at a call center since the accidental death of her daughter. As the phone rings, her personal and professional lives intertwine, leading to a particular call that forces her to confront a situation that will push her to the limits of her abilities. A hybrid of theatre and cinema, Dilemme is a unique formal experiment that immerses us in a gripping story raising the question: how far are we willing to go to save someone?

Inspired by the Danish film Den Skyldige (The Guilty), Dilemme is a theatrical creation project that seeks to adapt the psychological thriller for the stage. Various cinematic techniques and codes are explored to create the same tension experienced when watching a suspenseful film. A sensory and unsettling theatrical experiment.

Ideation François Bernier, Cory Haas – Co-creation Théâtre la Seizième (Vancouver) and Théâtre DuBunker (Montréal) – Artistic collaboration Chengyan Boon, Malcolm Dow, Siona Gareau-Brennan, Sophie B. Jacques, France Perras, Sean Sonier, Simon Therrien – Dramaturgy advisor Anne-Marie Olivier