Based on a true and made-up story -- Daniel Brière and Evelyne de la Chenelière appear in the Studio in Henri & Margaux
September 23, 2004 -
“Henri, I think you should stop going to the theatre. It makes you too sad.” – Margaux
Ottawa, Ontario -- Henri & Margaux? Well, it’s obvious, really — the authors have plastered it across the posters and the ads: it’s “a play about a couple, written and performed by a couple, Daniel Brière and Evelyne de la Chenelière.” We could go on to describe it as an intimate and funny play, touching and comical, in which fact and fiction, half-truths and half-lies meet and intertwine; a delicate and enigmatic work that draws the audience into a complicit relationship with the characters through meaningful glances, highly dubious autobiographical snippets, and thinly-veiled truths. It’s a play within a play where all is reflection, illusion, deception, mirror image… in other words, its theatre! As Henri says to Margaux during one of their more heated discussions, “There’s a grain of truth in it. You invested everything in ‘the success of our relationship.’ The worst part was when you made it your mission to write parts for me because you were sick of the TNM hiring me as a straight man.”
Who’s that on stage?
Margaux (Evelyne?) enters and kisses Henri (or is it Daniel?) hungrily, then asks him, “Yes, but do you like it better when people are watching?” They take it in turns to reveal a few hints of their “biography” to the audience. We learn that Henri has just turned 40, that he’s a former actor turned cabinetmaker, that he has a memory like an elephant’s. As for Margaux, she’s not quite 30; she has written a few plays, she teaches French, she’s read La Vie devant soi several times. They have children; they’re not married (though Henri has been asking for years). They love each other, and, like all couples, they talk to each other about everything — their former careers in theatre, their frustrations, their existential fears… but also their hopes and dreams.
“Les Cerises is so dull, I’ve never understood why it was such a success!” exclaims Margaux at one point — a subtle reference to Evelyne’s real-life play Des fraises en janvier. Henri & Margaux is full of such autobiographical allusions, but no need to check the facts with the authors to appreciate the charm of the play. What is unique about this interlacing of fact and fiction is the way it reveals a new way of exploring theatre — the theatre of intimacy and the theatre of public performance. Flashbacks and snatches of conversation, glimpses of intimacy and spontaneity set up an ironic tension between truth and lies that becomes one of the play’s greatest assets. Henri & Margaux is part commentary on the ups and downs of life as a couple, part exploration of the ambiguities of the actor’s craft and the twists and turns of the creative process.
Daniel and Evelyne
Montreal-based actor and director Daniel Brière is a founding member of the Groupement forestier du théâtre (creators of Oreille, tigre et bruit, Matroni et moi) and co-artistic director of the Nouveau Théâtre Expérimental, where he appears regularly on stage (Henri & Margaux, Durocher le millardaire). Other stage credits include the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde (Dom Juan, Les oranges sont vertes) and the Théâtre Denise-Pelletier (Rhinocéros). Television viewers will remember him for roles in Cauchemar d’amour, Annie et ses hommes, Caméra Café et Un gars, une fille. In film he has appeared in Denys Arcand’s Le Déclin de l’empire américain, Philippe Falardeau’s La Moitié gauche du frigo, and Luc Bélanger’s Gaz Bar Blues. He has directed a dozen plays and comedy shows, most recently Tavernes by Alexis Martin.
Writer and actor Evelyne de la Chenelière is the author of several plays, including Des fraises en janvier (premiered in Montreal by the Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui and remounted by the Compagnie Jean Duceppe) and Au bout du fil (Théâtre de Quat’Sous). She was the “writer” part of the creative team for Les Hommes aiment-ils le sexe, vraiment, autant qu’ils le disent?, Espace Go’s 2004–05 season opener. Her play L’Héritage de Darwin will soon be produced by Le Clou at the Maison Théâtre. She remains partial to the Nouveau Théâtre Expérimental, where she has appeared in several productions and premiered two of her own works, Henri & Margaux(co-created with Daniel Brière) and Aphrodite en 04 (co-created with Jean-Pierre Ronfard). This coming November, the Nouveau Théâtre Expérimental will present her latest collaboration with Daniel Brière, Nicht retour, Mademoiselle.
A Nouveau Théâtre Expérimental (Montreal) production
Henri & Margaux
Written, directed and performed by Daniel Brière and Evelyne de la Chenelière
Lighting designer & stage manager: Guillaume Cyr
Technical director: Jean-François Landry
Seamster: Jacques Doucet
Assisted by Sylvie Daigle
September 29 & 30 and October 1 & 2, 2004 at 20:00 in the NAC Studio
Running time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Tickets: Adults $30, Students $16
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 script of Henri & Margaux is included in Théâtre, by Evelyne de la Chenelière (published by Fides, 2003) and may be ordered from La Librairie du Soleil, (613) 241-6999 or (819) 595-2414.
“It’s rare in theatre to encounter a study of a couple that is as fresh, comical and timely as this one created by Evelyne de la Chenelière and Daniel Brière.” – Solange Lévesque, Le Devoir
“With elegance, humour and intelligence, the NTE’s production treads the fluid line between fiction and autobiography, shamelessness and play, intimacy and distance, love and theatre. Henri & Margaux winds itself delightedly around this playful ambiguity.” – Marie Labrecque, Voir
The National Arts Centre French Theatre gratefully acknowledges the support of Le Droit, Week-end Outaouais and Radio-Canada “La Première Chaîne”.
Information:
Guy Warin, Communications Officer
NAC French Theatre
(613) 947-7000 or 1 866 850-2787, ext. 759
gwarin@nac-cna.ca
