May 16, 2005 -

Ottawa, Ontario -- Imagine there’s a civil war . . . but imagine it’s happening here. Now imagine that you are the Other—the one who gets stuck in a refugee camp, the unclean one, the savage one, the pre-modern one, the dishonest one, the always-drunk one, the untrustworthy one, the closer-to-nature one, the in- touch-with-the-gods one, that one there, the one whose life experience is so different.

Artistic director Denis Marleau and the National Arts Centre (NAC) French Theatre are proud to welcome this production of e by Daniel Danis, premiered in January 2005 at the Théâtre National de la Colline in Paris, France, directed by Alain Françon and featuring a cast of 14 actors. From May 19 to 28, French Theatre audiences will have a chance to discover this profound, mordantly satirical dramatic fresco in its Canadian debut, directed by one of the most prominent theatre artists in France: Alain Françon, renowned for the breadth of his artistic vision and the rigour of his practice. e is a pièce-fleuve (literally, a “play/river”) or, as the author describes it, a roman-dit (“told novel”) with echoes of a heroic legend. This sweeping theatrical narrative draws its premise and power from mediaeval tales, chansons de geste and age-old sagas to trace the life of J’il, son of King Dadagobert, whose exploits are described in language as wonderful and terrible as an ancient epic.

“The Métis in e have been forced to move — shades of Sarajevo or Chechnya,” says Daniel Danis. “But I was in Quebec and I set the story at the time of the French mediaeval kings, so I mixed things up a bit.”

Le corps de mon mond

The tragicomic odyssey of the Azzedians, a race of ragged warriors — with something about them of the Native peoples of North America or the Amazon — begins with an exodus. Taking refuge on the Terre d’À Côté (literally, “the land next door”) governed by Mayor Blackburn, the exiles are granted a small piece of land on condition that they erect only temporary shelters. On his release from prison, J’il, the spiritual leader of the Azzedians, returns to his people, dreaming of building “le corps de mon mond” (the title his wife Romane has given to J’il’s collected prison writings, meaning literally “the body of my world”). But something is missing from that world, as from Georges Perec’s 300?page novel La Disparition: namely, the letter “e”. Henceforth, J’il’s people’s wanderings in a borrowed land parallel our hero’s own internal journey, his quest for a future in a time of war — a “memoricidal” war in which his wife Romane, the very embodiment of tolerance, and their twins Formerly and Tomorrow are in danger of being wiped out.

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The play takes shape in 34 scenes constructed around the enigmatic letter “e”. Twenty-five tableaux are based on letters of the alphabet — all except the missing “e” that constitutes the centre of the “body of the world.” Similarly, the number 8 recurs frequently: a double “e,” two intertwined e’s, the DNA double helix, the symbol for infinity. What if there were a code for imaginary things that was structured just like the genetic code? In that case, might the letter “e” hold the structural key to the body of the world?

“Daniel Danis’s writing is extraordinarily vital and inventive, loaded with imagery and imagination. . . . What stands out is his sharp yet delicate irony, the way he describes — without aggressiveness or rage, with the calm objectivity of an ancient epic — the horrors of which humans are capable. And Alain Françon makes excellent use of that delicious irony, that light, even delicate comedy.” ? Fabienne Darge, Le Monde

Daniel Danis and language

Writer and visual artist Daniel Danis, whose home is Quebec’s Saguenay region, is acclaimed across Canada and internationally for his unique and radical writing style — a captivating blend of narration and action where past and present coexist and collide — and for his sensitive approach to fundamental human concerns, particularly the notion of the Outsider. Over the last decade he has established himself as a leading French-language playwright, and garnered international acclaim (and numerous awards) for such works as Celle-là (That Woman, 1993, winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama), Cendres de cailloux (Stone and Ashes, 1993), Le Chant du Dire-Dire (Thunderstruck, or The Song of the Say-Sayer, 1999), and Le Langue-à-langue des chiens de roche (In the Eyes of Stone Dogs, 2001, winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award and presented at the NAC in 2001, directed by René?Richard Cyr). Stunningly original, broad in scope and power, Danis’s theatre explores the disquieting realism of dreams and the mysteries that lie deep within the heart of the sacred. His plays have been produced across Canada (Montreal, Quebec, Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton) and abroad (Scotland, Ireland, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Germany, Finland, Lithuania, Spain, Italy and Mexico).

Alain Françon and theatre

Alain Françon is currently (since 1996) the artistic director of the Théâtre National de la Colline in Paris and one of the most prominent theatre artists in France. Previously he was the founding artistic director of the Théâtre Éclaté in Annecy (1971–89), artistic director of the Centre dramatique national de Lyon–Théâtre du Huitième (1989–92), and artistic director of the Centre dramatique national de Savoie (1992–96). At the Théâtre National de la Colline he has renewed his commitment to presenting the modern classics (Chekhov. Ibsen, Brecht, Georg Kaiser) as well as works by contemporary playwrights (Heiner Müller, Edward Bond, Michel Vinaver, Daniel Danis). Whatever the period, Françon’s artistic exploration is guided by a desire “to wrest a bit of meaning from this chaotic world” and by an unshakeable belief in the central role of the playwright in the process of making theatre.

Tickets from $30.00 (Students from $16.00)
On sale at the NAC Box Office (no service charges), through Ticketmaster (at all Ticketmaster outlets or by ‘phone, 613 755 1111) or online at www.nac-cna.ca.

The National Arts Centre French Theatre gratefully acknowledges the support of Le Droit, Week-end Outaouais, Radio-Canada Television, and Radio-Canada (La Première Chaîne).

The Série Théâtre is sponsored by Desjardins.

Photo © Pascal Victor

Information:
Guy Warin, Communications Officer
NAC French Theatre
(613) 947-7000 or 1 866 850-2787, ext. 759
gwarin@nac-cna.ca