CYCLORAMA BY LAURENCE DAUPHINAIS: A FORAY INTO THE HISTORY OF MONTREAL THEATRE ON BOTH SIDES OF THE LANGUAGE DIVIDE
Working regularly with anglophone artists, the francophone creator asks herself: why do these two communities seem to know so little about each other? Thanks to rigorous research and with the help of collaborators on both sides of the linguistic divide, she plunges into the history of Montreal theatre to shine a spotlight on the stories we weave that make us who we are.
| Author, director and actress Laurence Dauphinais uses the form of the cyclorama as inspiration to create a documentary comedy in three locations about Montreal’s cultural duality. |
| Cyclorama is a play in three acts starting at Centaur Theatre, followed by a bus trip up Saint-Laurent Boulevard, and ending at the Centre du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui. It’s an imaginative and original journey through time, space, and the city. |
“I am a francophone Quebecker who has been immersed since childhood in a very specific construct of stories around language, identity, oppression, territory and survival. I grew up during a period of Quebec’s history where, if you were francophone, speaking English was easily seen as an act of self-alienation. With Cyclorama, I wanted to dig into this discomfort in the hopes of dissolving it. I wanted to use Montreal’s theatre world, so profoundly divided linguistically and culturally, to study the concrete effects of history on the practice of a shared art form. To bring together audiences who each knew nothing about the other. To air our extended family’s dirty laundry. Most of all, I wanted to make all these points of view heard simultaneously, to understand which stories they took root in and why they persisted. I wanted to give ourselves the chance to rewrite History and its stories in the present moment, over the time of a theatrical presentation.”
– Laurence Dauphinais
October 11 to November 5, 2022
Presented at Centaur Theatre and Centre du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui
CYCLORAMA
Created and directed by Laurence Dauphinais featuring Laurence Dauphinais, Antoine Yared and the History consultants Alexandre Cadieux and Erin Hurley assistant director Charlie Cohen set design Robin Brazill costume design Cynthia St-Gelais lighting design Chantal Labonté original music Navet Confit video conception Allison Moore props designer Marie-Ève Fortier a creation by Centaur Theatre and Centre du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui
