November 13, 2002 -

Ottawa, Ontario -- On November 14, 15, 16, 22 and 23, 2002, the National Arts Centre (NAC) French Theatre will present Quelqu'un va venir, by Norwegian playwright Jon Fosse, directed by Denis Marleau and produced by the NAC French Theatre in association with UBU, compagnie de création (Montreal). Featured in the cast are Pierre Lebeau, Alexis Martin and Pascale Montpetit.

Quelqu'un va venir marks the NAC French Theatre's long-awaited return to in-house production, which has been sporadic over the past eight years. With this welcome revival, the NAC French Theatre is delighted to highlight the skills of the NAC's production workshop staff.

Quelqu'un va venir

A house perched on a rocky, windswept shore, overlooking the infinite sweep of the ocean. An old, weatherbeaten house. The house a man and a woman have chosen to live, far from other houses, far from everyone. A house where at last they can be alone together, alone with each other. But the woman is obsessed by a strange premonition: What if someone comes? And sure enough, someone does come: the man who sold them the house. An ordinary man... but his presence unleashes hidden jealousies and insecurities that threaten to shatter the couple's relationship.

Jon Fosse's austere, crystalline language swirls, folds back on itself... words are repeated endlessly, or hang suspended in the emotional ebb and flow of these individuals who must live not only with each other, but with their own solitude. Like semitransparent screens that simultaneously reveal feelings and hide secrets, Fosse's characters are beings who, in the playwright's own words, "experience intense moments of startling clarity - many moments of deep, deep sadness, but many moments whose awkward humanity invites laughter."

Jon Fosse

Born in Norway in 1959, Jon Fosse - novelist, essayist, poet and author of children's books - wrote his first play, And We'll Never Be Parted, in 1994, commissioned by Norwegian stage director Kai Johnsen. This first play, a turning point in Fosse's career, was followed by The Name (1995), The Child (1997) and Visits (2002). Quelqu'un va venir (Someone is Going to Come) premiered at Oslo's Norske Teatret in 1996, and was first produced in French in 1999 at the Théâtre de Nanterre-Amandiers, France, directed by Claude Régy (who also adapted two of Fosse's novels, Melancholia I - published in French by P.O.L. (1998), and Melancholia II - published by Circé, for the stage). In 1996, for The Name, Jon Fosse received the Ibsen Award, Norway's highest theatrical honour. His plays have been translated and performed throughout Europe. The NAC French Theatre's presentation of Quelqu'un va venir in November 2002 marks Jon Fosse's North American premiere.

An impressive dramatic team

Fascinated by Fosse's writing, where words and stage directions are set out with the precision of a musical score, yet are full of elusive and evocative gaps and silences, director Denis Marleau has gathered a cast of three exceptionally talented actors: Pierre Lebeau, Alexis Martin and Pascale Monpetit.

Mr. Marleau's previous collaborations with Pierre Lebeau and Alexis Martin include Les Ubs (1991) and Maîtres Anciens (1996), and with Pascale Montpetit, Roberto Zucco (1993) and La Cantate Grise (1990).

Tickets: Adults $40.00, $35.00 / Students $20.75, $18.75. On sale in person 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.

Quelqu'un va venir, translated from the Norwegian by Terje Sinding, is published by L'ARCHE Éditeur, 1999.

LES RENCONTRES DU JEUDI

The curtain has just come down, and the theatre is still crackling with the energy of the play that has just ended. The audience members are still in the grip of the experience, shaping their reactions into ideas and opinions. Still half in character, barely out of makeup, the actors join the director onstage and begin a dialogue with the audience. Together, artists and audience share their impressions, their responses, their thoughts.

Join host Paul Lefebvre, Associate Artistic Director of the NAC French Theatre, for these informal talkback sessions, held right in the theatre a few minutes after the first Thursday-evening performance of each play.

Thursday, November 14 Meet the cast and creative team of Quelqu'un va venir.

Information:
Isabelle Brisebois
Communications Officer
Tel.: (613) 947-7000, ext. 759
French Theatre Fax: (613) 996-2828
ibrisebo@nac-cna.ca