La nuit des rois at the Théatre du Nouveau Monde

A sleepless night where love is written in black and white: this is the show presented by director Frédéric Bélanger, in collaboration with Rébecca Déraspe for the translation and adaptation. Performed at the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde (TNM), La nuit des rois runs from September 20 to October 15, 2022.

Rising from the ashes, the TNM restarts its programming, following its fire in August, with an adaptation of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. The impressive cast includes Clara Prévost as Viola disguised as a male servant named Cesario, Marie-Pier Labrecque as Olivia, Yves Jacques as Malvolio, and more.

For only $35+, a royal evening is offered where love is put on show in all its forms… and with all its genders. For 2h05 without an intermission, I experienced a tornado of emotions where I didn’t know if I should laugh, cry, or dance. Whether it be the intoxicating music by the group Gustafson, the immersive set by Francis Farley-Lemieux, or the acting, the work accomplished during the creation labs for Le Prélude à la Nuit des Rois in 2020 has made its mark!

From the very beginning, like the twins Viola and Sébastien who are shipwrecked, the audience is plunged into a world “where reality is transformed into a dream and where illusion becomes king”, as the TNM’s artistic director, Lorraine Pintal, remarks. Despite the simplicity of the scene, under the eyes and with the imagination of the spectator, it is easily transformed into the shore of the island of Illyria and the steps of a majestic castle thanks to the lighting and the music.

First, the lighting of the work by Nicolas Descoteaux emphasizes the presence of the actors by, for example, illuminating Viola during her first appearance; while Feste, the jester, makes the prologue in the foreground, the light reveals Viola who behind the projection screen in the dark.

Moreover, the music is spellbinding thanks to the Gustafson band, whose actor Jean-Philippe Perras, playing the Duke of Orsino, also doubles as a musician alongside Adrien Bletton. During several acts, this troupe of musician-actors sets the tone with its musical compositions varying from several musical genres, but always keeping the pulse on the mood of the work. Relegated to the left of the stage in the foreground of structures similar to huge panpipes, the Gustafson group was able to offer both music and theatre.

This multidisciplinary aspect of the work is repeated several times during the show where poetry, music, theatre, dance, and cinema are present. Whether it is through the cinematic projections of the characters submerged in water or through the final dance unravelling all the love triangles, each artistic choice has been made judiciously and intentionally with the aim of answering the existential questions of love:

”Do we exist because we are loved or do we exist because we love? What does passion in love mean?”
Frédéric Bélanger

Staging a play where identities are hijacked and gender disappears, La nuit des rois begins a discussion about a love, outside of heteronormative norms, where the answer to the question “What kind of man is he?” is “The human kind”. Interpreting the original Shakespearean text in a modern way contextualized by the LGBTQ+ movement, Frédéric Bélanger and Rébecca Déraspe approach with a contemporary and Quebecois pen the theme of modern love through a modern dialogue and the amplified role of Feste, the jester among the fools in love. Whether it is Antonio’s frank love for Olivia or Olivia’s passionate love for Cesario, what is love? What is a life without love?

This is to be seen in La nuit des rois in performance at the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde between September 20 and October 15, 2022 with additional performances on October 22-23, 2022. Click here for tickets. Furthermore, please keep your eye on the horizon as Kim Thúy, a globally acclaimed author thanks to her novel Ru, happens to be making a transition to the theatre! Indeed, at the TNM’s annual awards ceremony, the writer was the recipient of a $5,000 Jean-Louis Roux creation grant. Persuaded by the TNM’s artistic director, Lorraine Pintal, Kim Thúy is exploring “theatrical writing in a dramaturgical context,” as mentioned in an email release about the TNM’s awards ceremony.

Sources

“Après un incendie, le Théâtre du Nouveau Monde est de retour avec La nuit des rois.” Radio-Canada, 20 sept. 2022, https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1917021/theatre-nouveau-monde-nuit-des-rois-shakespeare.
Shakespeare, William. La nuit des rois. Directed by Frédéric Bélanger, translated and adapted by Rébecca Déraspe, Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, Sept. 22, 2022, Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, Montreal.
Théâtre du Nouveau Monde. L’Emporte-Pièces. vol. 15, Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, 2022.
Playbill for La nuit des rois, Montreal. Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, 2022.
Email for the TNM’s annual awards ceremony. Sent by Martine Laforce. Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, Sept. 22, 2022.