FALL THEATRE COMES EARLY
Delve into Arthur Miller and more
The fall season for Montreal’s francophone theatres is already underway, before the first leaf has curled: Over at Espace Libre, Camillien Houde, “le p’tit gars de Ste-Marie” is playing to Sept. 2, La Licorne opens on Monday with a reprise of Nathalie Doummar’s Coco, and Théâtre DenisePelletier opens with Olivier Arteau’s 2015 Fringe hit, Doggy dans gravel, on Tuesday.
Below is a pick of 10 other shows on offer this fall, a mere fraction of what’s happening in francophone theatres in the coming months.
ARTHUR MILLER DOUBLE BILL
Two Miller classics are playing almost concurrently this fall. First, there’s Mort d’un commis voyageur (Death of a Salesman) playing at Théâtre du Rideau Vert, 4664 St-Denis St., from Oct. 3 to Nov. 4. Serge Denoncourt, who recently tackled iconic American dramas A Streetcar Named Desire and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf, will be directing, with Marc Messier in the role of doomed “suitcase and a smile” pedlar Willy Loman. Then Vu du pont (A View from the Bridge) plays at Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, 84 Ste-Catherine St. W., from Nov. 14 to Dec. 9 with François Papineau as tormented longshoreman Eddie Carbone. Director Lorraine Pintal will no doubt find modern resonances in this searing Brooklyn-based tragedy involving hounded immigrants and homophobic panic. More information at rideauvert.qc.ca and tnm.qc.ca
DEMAIN MATIN, MONTRÉAL M’ATTEND Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, Sept. 19 to Oct. 14
Before TNM offers A View from the Bridge, there’s this view from the Main in a revival of Michel Tremblay’s 1970 musical. Director René Richard Cyr has adapted this story of a naive waitress seeking stardom in Montreal to foreground the musical content, à la Les Belles-soeurs. Set largely in a typically Tremblay-esque world of twilight cabarets, it’s a celebration not just of Montreal’s 375th but also, as the TNM points out, of national treasure Tremblay himself.
BASHIR LAZHAR Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui, 3900 St-Denis St., Sept. 19 to Oct. 14
It’s been 10 years since Évelyne de la Chenelière created her deeply humane one-character play about an Algerian immigrant who finds and delivers redemption at a Montreal elementary school. It went on, of course, to become the highly successful film, Monsieur Lazhar. Now it’s returning to where it started in a new production from the theatre’s artistic director, Sylvain Bélanger, and with rapper-turned-actor Rabah Aït Ouyahia taking on the role. More information at theatreaujourdhui.qc.ca
LE BÂTISSEURS D’EMPIRE OU LE SCHMÜRZ Théâtre Denise-Pelletier, 4353 Ste-Catherine St. E., Sept. 27 to Oct. 21
Eugène Ionesco gets all the props as the leading figure of the Theatre of the Absurd, but enthusiasts of the genre will be thrilled by a rare production of this hidden gem from novelist, jazz musician and playwright Boris Vian. First produced in 1957, it’s a nightmarish black comedy about a bourgeois family driven out of their apartment by a strange noise, only to be menaced in an ever-diminishing space by a creepy mummified figure, the “Schmürz.” More information at denise-pelletier.qc.ca
LAST NIGHT I DREAMT THAT SOMEBODY LOVED ME Usine-C, 1345 Lalonde Ave., Oct. 10 to 21
One of the most fascinating directors working in Montreal today, Angela Konrad brings her latest creation to Usine-C. A mélange of dance, drama, Shirley Bassey, Freud and The Smiths, it tells the story of a man who, unlucky in love, acquires a dog and aims to break through narcissism and into happiness. If you caught her astonishing version of Macbeth here, you’ll recognize the Konradian blend of pop kitsch and high art, as well as the canine content. More information at usine-c.com
LES SECRETS DE LA PETITE ITALIE Théâtre Jean-Duceppe, 175 Ste-Catherine St. W., Oct. 25 to Dec. 2
After the success of Les Chroniques de St-Léonard at the Duceppe a couple of years back, Steve Galluccio is premiering his latest play at this theatre. With echoes of his breakthrough hit, Mambo Italiano, it looks at the impact of a trans woman on a close-knit Italian-Montreal family. Davide Chiazzese, who reprises his award-winning turn in Tableau D’Hôte’s Hosanna at Centaur next year, joins the cast, alongside outgoing Duceppe director Michel Dumont. More information at duceppe.com
LES ENIVRÉS Théâtre Prospero, 1371 Ontario St. E., Nov. 21 to Dec. 16
Just one of several intriguing international plays in Prospero’s fall season, Les enivrés (The Intoxicated) is a dark comedy from Russian playwright Ivan Viripaev (who wrote Oxygène, which played here a couple of years back). It covers a long, boozy night during which tongues are loosened and secrets are spilled. Florent Siaud directs the cast of 10 actors. More information at theatreprospero.com
PSYCHÉDÉLIQUE MARILOU Théâtre La Licorne, 4559 Papineau Ave., Sept. 19 to Oct. 28
One of the latest products from the incredibly busy new writing factory that is La Licorne’s La Manufacture is this latest from Pierre-Michel Tremblay, creator of Coma Unplugged and Au champ de Mars. It’s a comedy with live musicians and stars Bruno Marcil (so funny in last year’s TNM Tartuffe) as ’60s psychiatrist, guru and LSD advocate Timothy Leary. He’s seen through the eyes of 20-something Marilou (Alice Moreault) who is writing a thesis on the hippie movement. More information at theatrelalicorne.com
TABLE RASE Espace Libre, 1945 Fullum St., Oct. 19 to 29
Catherine Chabot has a new play, Dans le champ amoureux, at Espace Libre this fall, but just before that, there’s another opportunity to catch her raucous, fearlessly frank hit play about six young women (one of them played by Chabot herself ) talking life, love and sex over drinks and food in a country chalet. It’s directed by Brigitte Poupart who recently directed an all-female version of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross at Usine-C. More information at espacelibre.qc.ca
UBU SUR LA TABLE Théâtre aux Écuries, 7285 Chabot St., Oct. 25, 27 and 28
The table is set yet again for Théâtre de la Pire Espèce’s longrunning adaptation of Alfred Jarry’s irresistibly silly Shakespeare spoof, Ubu Roi. Jarry’s tale of a monstrously vulgar despot murdering his way across east Europe is told with condiments, vegetables, cutlery — anything the two performers can lay their hands on. More information at auxecuries.com