Interview to Robert Lepage and my account of "Playing Cards 1: Spades" during Luminato 2012

Robert Lepage interviewed at Luminato Festival (By Gustavo Thomas. Toronto. 2012)

Robert Lepage is one of the Canadian figures I have followed most during my already 3-year-long stay in Toronto. Every year he stages at least one production in the city, but I have also searched for his work in his home city, Québec.

Over time and through seeing his stagings, attending lectures on him and somehow studying his work, his image has set foot on the ground of my perception.  Therefore I no longer need to avail myself of the qualifiers the Canadian press and critics shower him with, like "genius and visionary," and I’ve been able to place him as a theater director who knows well how to tell stories scenically and who makes great use of technology applied to the theater, as well as a financially successful artist who is secure in his continuous and personal exploration (which has a very chaotic character or, in any event, is carried by the same current of his own successes).

I've seen great moments in his productions, and other not so fortunate moments too; I'm rarely satisfied with the acting and I’m always surprised by the great love the Canadian public shows his work, as well as by the prices they pay to see his productions.

His latest production, the reason for this interview and which was also presented at the 2012 Luminato Festival in Toronto, “Playing Cards 1: Spades”, is part of a planned tetralogy with students (or so I understood) of the University of California in the United States.

Playing Cards 1: Spades. Luminato Festival (By Gustavo Thomas. Toronto. 2012)

I had the opportunity to see Spades the night before the interview, at its premiere, so my head was full of questions about the reasons for the creation of this staging. The interview itself, conducted by researcher Renate Klett at one of the beautiful stages of the Canadian Stage Company in Toronto, did not elaborate at all on the creative work of Lepage and was little more than a kind of advertising report, in the style of a television review that included an interview with the creator, where the director talked about how the production came to be, how he achieved certain effects, and some additional curiosities about working with the actors. Obviously informative but not critical at all, the interview was boring for me and even cloying, with positive adjectives about Lepage's work that I would  not expect from a serious researcher. In the end I thought, somewhat maliciously I admit, that if part of her work (including payments and trips around the world) depends on the proximity to very important people, then it would be professional suicide to openly and publicly criticize your interviewee.

My need to see and hear a critically objective interview was mostly because the production gave me the feeling of it being in a very high state of immaturity (that somehow Lepage accepted himself), uncharacteristic of all that I had seen from this director.

The play seemed to me, as a spectator, distant and cold, with a sort of naive view of the life of immigrants and of the American mindset. Everything happens on a circular stage with dozens of effects that became more of a problem for the actors than a solution for telling a story.

On the road that has taken me around the world to see great productions, some with wonderful technological effects and some without them (or, in any case, with the effects of a great training in acting), I do not find the work of Lepage as a whole as deep or enlightening, and I see it now only as just another example of a good stage show that has managed to reach economic success with respectability.

My experience with Einstein On The Beach was something completely different, where you know you’re in the face of a monumental masterpiece in every way. But that is the subject of another blog post.

Robert Lepage interviewed at Luminato Festival (By Gustavo Thomas. Toronto. 2012)

Renate Klett interviews Robert Lepage. Luminato Festival. (By Gustavo Thomas. Toronto. 2012)

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A visit to La caserne, ExMachina and Robert Lepage's Work Studio.

When I knew that La caserne, Robert Lepage and ExMachina's headquarters, was two blocks from my hotel in Quebec City, I didn't have any doubt in going to visit that almost mythic place (at least for Canadian performing arts artists), comparable only with La Fura del Baus performing arts research centre. I thought there were inside a kind of bookshop or store, so it could be worth visiting as a theatre tourist and as a researcher.

The building is a very nice remodeled and modernized old structure of a former fire station (you can see the images published here), pretty impressive, specially when you think in an apparently small theatre company, but it seems that Lepage and associates have done not only a very good artistic work but also a very well financial one.

Indeed there was a bookshop, and talking a little bit with two kind ladies at the reception desk I found the possibility, as a playwright and theatre researcher, to get some special recordings of Lepage's works (with the signed clause of not to use it in commercial purposes, of course), so I didn't miss the opportunity and asked for the whole "Trilogie des dragons" and some books. I wanted the last productions (Lipsynch and The Ring...) but they weren't able to provide any of them; anyhow, I was very happy to be there and get 4 DVDs with the Trilogie... and books (one day before at The Grand Theatre of Quebec during the performance of La face cachée de la lune I bought some other books) and see a little bit of their beautiful building.

Slideshow of photographs of La Caserne. ExMachina and Robert Lepage's headquarters.

Video: "Trilogie des dragons"

The Far Side of the Moon (La face cachée de la lune) by Robert Lepage, at The Grand Theatre of Quebec

Last February 10th, 2011 I saw the mythic Robert Lepage's creation "La face cachée de la lune" (The dark side of the Moon) at the Grand Theatre of Quebec, Canada. I simply could corroborate that Lepage is a great storyteller and a great stage director; he theatrically knows how to deal with our age and how to use its different languages.

Slideshow: La face cachée de la lune, at Quebec Grand Theatre (Feb 10th, 2011)

Here a video from Youtube showing some extracts of the play (in French as I listened to it in Quebec)

Eonnagata, directed by Robert Lepage at Sony Center, Toronto.

I've just seen Eonnagata, a truly good performance with the best of theatre and dance worlds, where the star is a team of fantastic artists.

Robert Lepage, surrounded by a team of great collaborators, -Dancers Sylvie Guillem and Russell Maliphant; Lighting designer Michael Hulls; Costume designer Alexander McQueen (yes, the recently dead fashion artist); and Sound designer Jean-Sébastien Côté-, has created a big work of art. 

Even when the Toronto producer's publicity uses Lepage's name as if he were an isolated creator, this work couldn't be done without his amazing team; actually, it was conceived by Lepage, Guillem and Maliphant together. 

Two worlds, Dance and Theatre, are there with the best of their traditions and artists' skills (well, Lepage, though not a good dancer at all, is a very skilled actor), and with technology helping all the time to make things appear better than they are; yes, this is an effective machinery for the performing arts and everything works wonderfully well.

There isn't, in this performance of Eonnagata, a marvelous acting work for my spectator memory, but there are indeed visual-and-sound images, and lots of them. It is the first time I could see on stage a successful  game, explored by Bauhaus artists in the 1920's, of lines mixed with the human body in shadows; but I could also see those bodies recreated by sensational costumes designed by Alexander McQueen, malleable costumes, some spectacular, some fine and exact. I know I will remember that marvelous way of dancing (by Guillem specially), and that amazing way to use props and simple objects.

This is a story about a French transvestite spy (a hermaphrodite thought many) living in 18th-Century Europe (1) and this is also the story of how a terrible and strange life can be shown in a very beautiful way. We never see anything discordant or bizarre, even when half of the performance uses Japanese motifs and decorations (that's why the name of the play, of course, E-Onnagata, the female personification role in Kabuki) with a charcater living in the middle of the Baroque epoch. We are there only contemplating beauty, finesse, aesthetics, and curiosity. Yes, we love the character and his/her life, yes, the life of a transvestite, and with such a spectacular performance, who wouldn't?

I wonder about Lepage's obsession for spectacularity and for transforming tragedies or potentially bizarre stories into a kind of fairy tale and beautifully done stage performances, as if he didn't want to face anything from its horrible counterpart. Maybe here is where his success comes from: you can tell terrible things in a very beautiful way, with the best of forms, and with the best artists.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/gustavothomastheatre/sets/72157625303209299/show/

Trailer of Eonnagata

(1) Sadler's site says about: "Eonnagata tells the story of the Chevalier d'Éon, Charles de Beaumont - diplomat, writer, swordsman and a member of the King's Secret, a network of spies under the control of Louis XV. De Beaumont was perhaps the first spy to use transvestism in the furtherance of his duties and until the day he died his true gender was a source of constant speculation, even provoking public bets in the late 18th century."

"The Andersen Project" directed by Robert Lepage at Canadian Stage, Toronto.

Program of "The Andersen Project" at Canadian Stage (Oct 2010), Toronto.

Ticket of  "The Andersen Project" at Canadian Stage (Oct 2010), Toronto.

I've just seen it at Canadian Stage in Toronto, and it has given to me a real perspective of Lepage's work: it didn't show to me a genius, but a very good professional master and an intelligent and sensitive artist. 

Robert Lepage is not scared about freedom on stage but neither about finding limits on it: it is not revolutionary, it is not transgressive, it is not shocking nor dramatic; he constructed an almost spectacular performance of a tale (or tales) about a famous story teller and writer, Hans Christian Andersen, and about Lepage himself with his own obsession, a life as an artist and as a man. He manages atmospheres, space and time in a masterful way; I have never enjoyed so much the image of a simple tree on stage, and a simple story-teller telling a story. 

Technology and theatrical simplicity.

I also enjoyed a lot Yves Jacques' work (and specially those monologues where he exposes each of his characters' past ) but his all realist acting didn't change anything to me, just showed (like the director) a very good master in acting.

A simple text (three stories interconnected), the use of technology, a masterful theatrical direction and a very good actor playing a solo, that's why I liked "The Andersen Project". 

ID, A Cirque Éloize Performance at Toronto Buskerfest 2010

Yes, I finally could see a Cirque Éloize performance, and it was during this Toronto Buskerfest 2010. For many years I was trying it but always something happened stopping me to go. 

ID is the name of Cirque Éloize's last spectacle, and it is all around street acrobatic acts, much of it with street dance (Capoeria and hihop styles), bicycles, street climbing, etc. It seems that it has been a great success in its natal Montréal and they are trying to expand that success to Toronto and all over Canada. 

Slideshow of Cirque Éloize Performance at Toronto Buskerfest 2010

The Toronto Buskerfest Cirque Éloize's performance I saw was only a 30-minute extract from the original spectacle (originally for an inner stage and not for street festivals), but it shows many of the impressive acts included in it: some street acrobatic dance, a play with a hoop, and acrobatics with a bicycle. Well, I said impressive acts, when actually there were not as impressive as they should be. After have seen the video you will agree with me that this was not the best way to introduce a very interesting modern circus company to any public, many of the movements during this performance had no strength nor projection, and some parts were almost bad performed. I guess it was because this wasn't the original performing plan and they were very aware of the danger of working on a stone stage; even do the bicycle acrobatic act is surprising and well done.

Now I'm looking forward to see this company performing on a theatrical stage (in October this year), and then add my opinion to that of many others who have seen Cirque Éloize before, that they are an amazing modern circus company with the similar level of quality than its big brother, Le Cirque du Soleil.

Video of Cirque Éloize performance at Toronto Buskerfest 2010

   

Lipsynch by Robert Lepage (Ex Machina)

Just sharing what I missed arriving in Toronto 2 months later last year. "Lypsynch" is a 9-hour play by Robert Lepage (the most renown Canadian performing arts artist) and his company Ex Machina; it was presented at Luminato Festival 2009 in Toronto. This is a play about the voice and the human being, through 9 stories connected, they say, in a masterly way.

What can I do? I'll be waiting for the occasion to see it live.

"Lipsynch"

"On the side of the road" a Theatre Performance in Toronto

Program of "On the side of the road" a Theatre Performance in Toronto
Originally uploaded by Gustavo Thomas

Curious production by Theatre Junction (Calgary), "On the side of the road" at Fleck Dance Theatre in Toronto.

A Happening-like style production but with a common American way of saying things: storytelling (monologues of the characters addressed to the public telling their views about the story and their views about anything) with some dramatized scenes.

A very open style of directing theatre where anything can happen: live music, singing, dancing, sculpture and acting in French or English are all mixed, almost with success.

What it seems very interesting, from my point of view, is the Canadian roots inside the play: it is a Canadian story with Canadian characters (well, one of them is French) in a very Canadian atmosphere, where deers and lakes and trees are symbols, are ways of understanding life and are more than subjects of interest.

It happened that I saw it, happened I liked it.

So, now I can keep my self repeating the last song:

"I am a deer, deer, I am a deer!..."

Here a video a found in Youtube about "On the side of the road"

Theatre Junction page: http://www.theatrejunction.com/