COMÉDIE, followed by Catastrophe and Berceuse by Beckett

A coproduction of the Théâtre de Fortune and Réseau ACCÈS CULTURE

As part of the Réseau Accès culture, Samuel Beckett’s Comédie, Berceuse and Catastrophe have never been presented before in Québec. Under the direction of Jean-Marie Papapietro, these three short plays written in 1963, 1981 and 1982 will be interpreted by Sophie Clément, Ginette Morin, Paul Savoie and Christophe Rapin. In conjunction with Accès culture, the Théâtre de Fortune wishes to provide the public an opportunity to experience the works of Beckett, a master of irony and nonsensical commentaries, for whom the remedy to life’s tragedy is humour.

Production: Jean-Marie Papapietro
Production Assistant: Christophe Rapin
Casting: Sophie Clément, Ginette Morin, Christophe Rapin and Paul Savoie
Stage Design: François-Xavier Marange
Costumer Design: Any Malenfant
Lighting: David Perreault Ninacs
Music: Philippe Gaudet

Today, Beckett would be a 100 years old, and it seemed important to us to make this author’s voice heard once again, a creative soul who became a force in theatre and who stood out very early on from the trends of the day for his rigour, still so rare in contemporary theatre.

The major topics that link these three works together is loneliness and the often silent distress that accompanies it. In the play Comédie, Beckett manages to deals with adultery with humour. One man and two women are trapped in jars with only their heads exposed and made-up to resemble the jars themselves. None of the three are aware of the presence of the others, nor where they are. Berceuse shows us a woman who got old prematurely and who has seemingly become one with her rocking chair, listening to its monotone creaking while talking to herself. Finally, Catastrophe, written for Vaclav Havel, a political prisoner in Czechoslovakia, puts on stage an actor, a producer and his assistant. Beckett effectively denounces our obsession with images, which increasingly transform us into passive and consenting victims.

There will be fifteen representations of Comédie, Berceuse and Catastrophe in 12 different locations of Réseau ACCÈS CULTURE, from February 19 to March 15, 2008

Check the schedule of shows (in French)