October 06, 2005 -

Ottawa, Ontario -- Denis Marleau, Artistic Director of the National Arts Centre (NAC) French Theatre, is delighted to present his staging of Les Reines, by Quebec playwright Normand Chaurette, in the NAC Theatre, October 20–29, 2005. Having previously directed the original productions of two of Mr. Chaurette’s earlier plays—Le Passage de l’Indiana in 1996 and Le Petit Köchel in 2000 at the Avignon Festival—Mr. Marleau returns with a new production of Les Reines. First staged in 1991 at Montreal’s Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui, directed by André Brassard, the play was remounted in 1997 in Paris, at the Théâtre du Vieux-Colombier (Comédie-Française), directed by Joël Jouanneau, where it won the Prix CIC Paris Théâtre; then at Quebec’s Théâtre du Périscope, directed by Gil Champagne. Peter Hinton (newly-appointed Artistic Director of the NAC English Theatre) directed a 1992 production of Linda Gaboriau’s award-winning English translation, The Queens, at Toronto’s Canadian Stage, earning a Floyd S. Chalmers Award and a Dora Award.

Les Reines is coproduced by UBU compagnie de création (Montreal), the NAC French Theatre, the Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui (Montreal) and the Théâtre du Nord (Lille, France). Featured in the cast are four outstanding actresses from Mr. Marleau’s Le Petit Köchel: Ginette Morin, Louise Bombardier, Louise Laprade and Christiane Pasquier; they are joined by Béatrice Picard and Sophie Cattani. The action unfolds in a spectacular set designed by Michel Goulet, who also collaborated with Mr. Marleau on Le Passage de l’Indiana and Le Petit Köchel, as well as Roberto Zucco (1993) and Urfaust, tragédie subjective (1999). Costumes are by Daniel Fortin, who also created the costumes for Catoblépas (2001), La Dernière Bande (2003), and Le Moine noir (2004). Video direction is by Stéphanie Jasmin, who has worked with Mr. Marleau on over 10 shows since 2000, including Les Aveugles (2002), Au cœur de la rose (2002), and Le Moine noir (2004). The continuity in the creative team links Les Reines to previous productions in Denis Marleau’s ongoing exploration of Normand Chaurette’s dramatic œuvre, which never fails to challenge and astonish its audiences.

London, January 20, 1483

While a heavy snowfall blankets London, King Edward lies on his deathbed, and his younger brother, the monstrous Richard, is plotting to assassinate all who stand between him and the throne. As the balance of power shifts, the palace women—“Queens” of the royal families of York, Lancaster, and Plantagenet—fight tooth, nail and tongue to gain the prospective monarch’s favour: the anguished Queen Elizabeth (Christiane Pasquier); the elderly Duchess of York, mother of Edward and Richard (Béatrice Picard); the dethroned queen, Margaret of Anjou (Ginette Morin); the ambitious and grasping Warwick sisters, Anne and Isabella (Louise Bombardier and Louise Laprade) . . . all, that is, except the mute and mysterious Anne Dexter (Sophie Cattani).

The play traces the shifting passions and ambitions of six women drawn from Shakespeare’s Richard III and the recorded lineage of the English monarchy, governed by centuries of protocol, and bound to the great cosmic hierarchy of kings. Chaurette’s queens yearn to carve out a place in history; and so they talk, they talk… in sumptuous yet superficial words that disguise the brutality of the world while paradoxically revealing it all the more clearly. On the ritualized ground between their private and public lives, we witness tragic collisions, cruel exchanges, and occasional unexpected flashes of offbeat humour.

Les Reines
Written by Normand Chaurette /
Directed by Denis Marleau

With Louise Bombardier, Sophie Cattani, Louise Laprade, Ginette Morin, Christiane Pasquier and Béatrice Picard
Artistic collaboration and video direction: Stéphanie Jasmin
Set design: Michel Goulet
Costume design: Daniel Fortin / Sound design: Nancy Tobin
Lighting design: Lucie Bazzo / Wigs and makeup: Angelo Barsetti

October 20, 21, 22, 28 and 29, 2005 at 19:30 in the NAC Theatre

Tickets from $30.50 (Students $16.25) On sale at the NAC Box Office (in person only, no service charges), through Ticketmaster (at all Ticketmaster outlets or by ‘phone, 613-755-1111) or online at www.nac-cna.ca

Groups of 10 or more save up to 20% off regular ticket prices! For more information, please contact (613) 947-7000, ext. 384, or grp@nac-cna.ca

Following its engagement at the National Arts Centre, Les Reines will tour to the Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui in Montreal (November 1–26, 2005) and the Théâtre du Nord in Lille, France (December 8–18, 2005).

About the playwright

Writer, translator, librettist and musician Normand Chaurette has published a dozen plays since 1980, including Provincetown Playhouse, juillet 1919, j’avais 19 ans (translated as Provincetown Playhouse, July 1919), 1981; Fragments d’une lettre d’adieu lus par des géologues (Fragments of a Farewell Letter Read by Geologists), 1986; Les Reines (The Queens), 1991; Le Passage de l’Indiana, 1996 (winner of the 1996 Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama and the 1998 Masque for Best Original Script); Stabat Mater I, 1997;Stabat Mater II, 1999; and Le Petit Köchel (The Concise Köchel), 2000 (winner of the 2001 Governor General’s Literary Award for Drama and the 2002 Masque for Best Original Script). His plays are published jointly by Leméac Éditeur and Actes Sud–Papiers. He has also written a novel, Scènes d’enfants (1999), and several short stories, most published by Leméac. Normand Chaurette’s plays have been widely produced across Canada (Montreal, Toronto, Edmonton, Vancouver), in the U.S. (New York and other major centres) and in Europe (Paris, Brussels, Florence, Barcelona, Edinburgh). His most recent plays have been translated into English, Italian, Catalan, Spanish and German.

Mr. Chaurette is also a respected translator of the works of William Shakespeare, including Le Songe d’une nuit d’été (A Midsummer Night’s Dream) for Quebec’s Théâtre du Trident, directed by Robert Lepage (1996 Masque for Outstanding Translation); and La Nuit des rois (Twelfth Night) for Montreal’s Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, directed by Yves Desgagnés (2004 Masque for Outstanding Translation). Other translations include Schiller’s Marie Stuart for Montreal’s Nouvelle Compagnie Théâtrale, and Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler for the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde.

A new production of Chaurette’s early play La Société de Métis, written over 20 years ago and extensively reworked by the playwright, will be staged November 23–26, 2005 in the NAC Studio, directed by Joël Beddows. This coproduction by the Théâtre la Catapulte (Ottawa), the NAC French Theatre, the Théâtre Blanc (Quebec) and the Théâtre français de Toronto will then tour to Quebec and Toronto.

The National Arts Centre French Theatre gratefully acknowledges its media partners for this production of Les Reines: Le Droit, Transcontinental Media, Voir, and CIMF Rock-Détente.

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Information:
Guy Warin, Communications & Media Relations Officer
French Theatre – Canada’s National Arts Centre
(613) 947-7000 or 1 866 850-2787, ext. 759
gwarin@nac-cna.ca