Nelligan : le chant du poète naufragé / André Gagnon-Michel Tremblay, March 2020

© Marc Hervieux / Nelligan / Jean-François Gratton, Shoot Studio / compagnie et cie 

Something wonderful happened this winter in Montreal’s Théâtre du Nouveau Monde : a brand new production of Nelligan. This version of an acclaimed opéra romantique by André Gagnon (music) and Michel Tremblay (libretto) directed by Normand Chouinard has a subtitle: Le chant du poète naufragé (The Song of a shipwrecked poet). After a triumphant run in Montreal the opera went on a tour of the province. I saw the show in Drummondville’s Maison des arts Desjardins, having travelled 300 miles and crossed a country border for that. Here is why.

Des nouvelles d'Édouard / Michel Tremblay (Chroniques du Plateau Mont-Royal #4, 1991, Lemeac)

Of the 6 books from Chroniques du Plateau Mount-Royal series by Michel Tremblay Des nouvelles d'Edouard is my favorite. It is a striking book. When I took it in my hands after having read the previous three I thought this one would be another charmingly busy multi-figure anthropological canvas describing life in a certain area of Montreal. And the book indeed begins as expected. However soon it takes a completely different turn, changes genre and becomes a book on a solitary journey of self-discovery with most of the action taking place actually outside of Montreal and outside of the continent altogether.