October 14, 2005 -

Ottawa, Ontario -- For the fourth consecutive year, the National Arts Centre (NAC) French Theatre teams up with the NAC Orchestra and the Fourth Stage to offer our popular Spectacles-midi series of lunchtime readings with music. Previous series explored the work of Victor Hugo, Sa lettre disait…(correspondence by acclaimed women writers), and Arthur Rimbaud. This season, artistic coordinator Paul Lefebvre and music consultant and pianist Jean Desmarais have devised a literary bestiary in four parts.

The series opens October 18 and 19 with Jean de La Fontaine, whose collection of Fables sets up a subtle tension between human and animal discourse. Our next guest (November 29 & 30) is the truculent Alexandre Dumas père, whose Histoire de mes bêtes (“Story of my animals”) is a lively account of the assorted winged and four-legged creatures that shared his life. Third in line (February 14 & 15) is the ironic Jules Renard with his succinct and savoury Histoires naturelles. The series concludes April 11 & 12 with a visit from a woman who knew, better than any other French-language writer, how to talk about animals—and how to make them talk: Colette.

All four readings feature musical accompaniment by Jean Desmarais and take place in the NAC Fourth Stage from noon to 1 p.m. Our distinguished readers are, in order of appearance, Hedwige Herbiet (Les Fables), Paul Lefebvre (Histoire de mes bêtes), Robert Bellefeuille (Histoires naturelles) and Maxine Turcotte (Colette au pays des bêtes).

Fables by La Fontaine
Read by Hedwige Herbiet
Directed by André Perrier
Harpsichordist: Jean Desmarais
Artistic coordinator: Paul Lefebvre

Tuesday, October 17 and Wednesday, October 19
from noon to 1 p.m. in the NAC Fourth Stage

Tickets: $15.50 (students $8.75)
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.

This season’s inaugural reading is devoted to the celebrated Fablesof Jean de La Fontaine (1621–1695) and features actress Hedwige Herbiet and pianist Jean Desmarais, who on this occasion will replace his piano with a harpsichord to perform excerpts from Pièces de clavecin (1687) by Élisabeth-Claude Jacquet de la Guerre (c.1664/1667–1729). Written between 1668 and 1693, La Fontaine’s Fables, with their dazzling rhythmic diversity, are considered to be the high point of 17th-century literature (yes, higher even than Racine!). The fables chosen for this reading include La Chauve-souris et les deux Belettes (The Bat and the Two Weasels), Le Loup et le Chien (The Wolf and the Dog), La Ligue des Rats (The League of Rats), La Grenouille qui veut se faire aussi grosse que le bœuf (The Frog that Wished To Be As Big as the Ox), and the immortal La Cigale et la Fourmi(The Grasshopper and the Ant).

- 30 -

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