L’enclos de l’éléphant

Théâtre du Grand Jour /

Montréal

#FTA_enclos

Eyeing the Intruder
A man enjoying a comfortable evening at home agrees to let a stranger into his house during a downpour. But the more the intruder reveals the less we know what he really wants, and what appears to be clear abruptly becomes murky. What can an elephant do against a mosquito? That’s what you’re watching, seated in a miniature theatre designed just for you. But are other people also watching these two men? You see a face on a small surveillance screen built into your seat, which you notice also contains a miniature camera. Are you, the watcher, also being watched?

That is the unsettling fictional and theatrical device developed by playwright Étienne Lepage (Rouge gueule) and director Sylvain Bélanger, placing cheek by jowl the insecurity of the present with the current obsession for surveillance. Welcome to a microcosm where, when it comes to facing the hidden terrors lurking in everyday life, you’re on your own.

Sylvain Bélanger

Sisyphus at the End of Utopianism
Born in Montreal in 1972, Sylvain Bélanger studied acting at the National Theatre School of Canada. He is a founding member of Théâtre du Grand Jour and has been the artistic director of the company since its inception in 1999. As a director and playwright, he uses theatre to question the individual’s accountability in our “end of history” era where many of the underlying structures of modernity have collapsed. He has directed Joan MacLeod’s Cette fille-là (The Shape of a Girl), Bernard Lagier’s Moi chien créole (presented at the Comédie-Française) and, for Théâtre de la Manufacture, Olivier Choinière’s Félicité.

THÉÂTRE DU GRAND JOUR / Politically Committed Theatre
For the past dozen years, Théâtre du Grand Jour has been exploring the mutations of individual responsibility in the present context of the disintegration of citizen identity, in singular events such as Le sommet sur l’engagement, Mai 02 - liberté à la carte and Les Grands Responsables, as well as stagings of seething scripts like Venise-en-Québec (co-produced with Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui), Olivier Choinière’s Autodafé and Terrorisme by the brothers Presnyakov.

Credits

PRODUCED BY THÉÂTRE DU GRAND JOUR

WRITTEN BY ÉTIENNE LEPAGE DIRECTION SYLVAIN BÉLANGER PERFORMED BY PAUL AHMARANI + DENIS GRAVEREAUX SET AND COSTUME DESIGN ROMAIN FABRE SOUND DESIGN LARSEN LUPIN LIGHTING DESIGN ANDRÉ RIOUX

COPRODUCTION FESTIVAL TRANSAMÉRIQUES

WRITTEN BY PAUL LEFEBVRE TRANSLATED BY NEIL KROETSCH