November 21, 2005 -

Ottawa, Ontario -- The National Arts Centre (NAC) French Theatre, in association with the NAC Orchestra and the Fourth Stage, presents the second in its popular Spectacles-midi series of lunchtime readings with music, devoted this season to a literary bestiary in four parts. The series continues on November 29 and 30, when the intriguing Paul Lefebvre, Associate Artistic Director of the NAC French Theatre, will read, with characteristic effervescence, from Histoire de mes bêtes (“Adventures with my pets”), by the irascible Alexandre Dumas père (1802–1870). Pianist Jean Desmarais will perform spirited renditions of lively works by Gioacchino Rossini (1792–1868) to accompany these savoury tales of the various furred and winged creatures who shared the life of the author of The Three Musketeers and The Count of Monte Cristo—a man described by Jules Michelet as “a force of Nature” and by Joseph Kessel as “a most prodigiously alive, marvellously cumbersome person.” Bring your lunch . . . but not your dog!

Quadrupeds, primates and flying things

In 1844, buoyed by the success of The Count of Monte Cristo, Alexandre Dumas decided to build the villa of his dreams, which soon became known as . . . the Castle of Monte Cristo. The plaster dust had barely settled when a ragged crew of starving writers, undercommissioned painters and unemployed actors moved in and began to take advantage of the hospitality of the owner and his many servants. At the same time, a veritable zoo took up residence, both indoors and out: a Scottish pointer named Pritchard, countless cats, two parrots, a vulture, three monkeys, ducks, chickens, peacocks, an aviary, etc. This lively menagerie is the subject of Dumas’s Histoire de mes bêtes, a series of amusing, ironic vignettes of the everyday life of an author for whom any creature—whether two-legged, four-legged, furred or winged—could become the hero of a story.

From the wide range of stories and anecdotes in Mr. Dumas’s book, Paul Lefebvre has chosen the hair-raising adventures of Mr. Dumas’s three monkeys . . . stories that reveal as much about the eccentric writer as about his simian companions.

Histoire de mes bêtes by Alexandre Dumas père
Read by Paul Lefebvre / Directed by Claire Faubert
Musical accompaniment: Jean Desmarais, piano

Tuesday, November 29 and Wednesday, November 30
12 noon –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.

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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