NAC French Theatre
Mélanie DUMONT Associate artistic director, Enfance/jeunesse
Finding the light
Theatre is not separate from our everyday world. It is, as much as possible, an integral part of it.
At a time when the limits of the unthinkable are being pushed back at dizzying speed, leaving us uncertain and unsteady, the need for illuminating theatre is more pressing than ever. Immersed in planning this new season, eagerly anticipating our return home after a year on the move, I hoped THAT OUR THEATRE WOULD SHINE BRIGHT, LIKE A BEACON IN THE DISTANCE; that here in the city, amid the busy streets and bustling crowds, it would be a central point, a place to pause and gather strength and courage, warmth and momentum.
Beacon–theatre. Precisely! And we can already begin to visualize it, thanks to the artists who, by participating in our season, will add their creative fire to its brilliance. Bonfires, bushfires, fireworks ... Creators, too, are looking for ways to meet the urgent need to rekindle hope, spark the imagination, make way for invention, forge new connections, envision the future. So there will be exploration, movement, possibility. Bursts of laughter and poetry crafted on the spot, out of practically nothing. Investigations of the unlikely, and a fantasy featuring the spikes, fur and feathers of a fabulous bestiary. There will be singing on stage, and dancing too, to get you in the groove!
Let’s embrace this beacon–theatre, this vibrant life, these eager and sensitive souls who forge courageously ahead, who defy history in order to reinvent it, who paint with mud or talk to the birds, when they’re not conversing with a barking egg. So that the light flickering deep within, at the core of the treasure that is childhood, may shine out and illuminate our world.