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Francais (French)
Born at the dawn of the 1980s, Alexandre Fecteau grew up in fear of HIV/AIDS and followed, with concern, news about the virus abundantly reported in the media. So it’s not surprising that reading Jonas Gardell’s novel N’essuie jamais de larmes sans gants, set in Sweden at the start of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, appealed to the man who has now become a recognized director.
“I knew it was the right material to address the subject, and I approached Anne-Marie Olivier, then artistic director of the Théâtre Le Trident,” Fecteau said. Author and actress Véronique Côté joined the team, adapting the Swedish novel’s 588-page French translation, published in 2016.
Romantic
Fecteau also brought together four musicians to perform Mendelssohn’s concerto, conducted by pianist Anne-Marie Bernard. A key ingredient of the show, the music works on the spectator from within, lulling the action even if it had not yet tipped over the edge. “The concerto leads to tragedy; it lifts the room and takes it elsewhere. This romantic bias matches my appraisal of the novel,” the director said.
The 36-minute Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64, by Mendelssohn, is divided into 52 entries, as the theatrical proposal unfolds. Bernard, who is collaborating with the director for the second time, decided to enter the project before rehearsals, to help decide on the sections and create a more organic tempo. “The narration meets the violin, its tone sometimes matching the human voice, and it’s very good.”
No stranger to documentary theatre, Fecteau has opted for well-documented fiction this time. The title N’essuie jamais de larmes sans gants (Never Wipe Tears Without Gloves) refers to the first years of the virus epidemic—a time when many institutions preached out of fear, ignorance and contempt, in the name of public health and prudence. The brief breakthrough in LGBTQ rights (late 1970s/early 1980s) ended with the eruption of the HIV/AIDS virus, which some viewed as justification of the stigmatization and hatred, prompting a rollback of these hard-won gains. “It’s important to remember this, because the show is about how minorities are treated.”
Some have labelled this theatre production a romantic tragedy. When asked if it isn’t strange to present this painful era as romantic, Fecteau said: “The romantic emphasis is on the community itself. The HIV/AIDS epidemic gave birth to a multitude of organizations that structured the gay community, (but) there’s certainly no nostalgia (when it comes to looking back).”
Warning: the 3½-hour show with intermission contains explicit nudity and sexuality (16+).
N’essuie jamais de larmes sans gants, a tragedy directed by Alexandre Fecteau and magnified by Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto, at Théâtre Duceppe, Dec. 6-17.
www.duceppe.com
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This page is also available in / Cette page est également disponible en:
Francais (French)
