Nathan
Share by Email
Burning down America
All that’s left of him is a brain, a heart and two lungs kept alive in a saline solution. Nathan Bénédict, proud to have so gloriously succeeded at self-immolation, has connected his brain to the hospital computers. He is thus able to compel characters and actors to recount the history of America through the prism of a grotesque saga riddled with incest, murder and treachery, the story of his family of worthless, depraved intellectuals.
The passionate Emmanuel Schwartz portrays a baroque world, first seen in his Chroniques, in this theatrical saga marked by searing intensity. In this cruel theatre, anything brought into being is promptly destroyed, just as America systematically destroys its past in order to dwell in a perpetual present. Assuming the megalomania of his main character, the playwright and director desires, like Artaud, to bestow on language its possibilities of physical vibration and its power to destroy.
May 27, 7:00 pm
May 28, 7:00 pm
with intermission
Tickets: $30
Under 30 / Over 65: $25
Discount packages on sale now
15% to 40% off
Related Events
Meet the artists after the performance on May 27Metro Laurier
Singular Artist, Singular Vision
An actor, musician, director and playwright, Emmanuel Schwartz has, since graduating from the theatre program at Collège Lionel-Groulx in 2004, been simultaneously pursuing a series of radical artistic adventures in collusion with artists such as choreographer Dave St-Pierre, director Denis Villeneuve, writer and director Olivier Kemeid, director Marc Beaupré – Schwartz’s performance as Caligula mirroring contemporary nightmares – and the writer and director Wajdi Mouawad, with a memorable performance as Wilfrid in Mouawad’s Littoral. An atypical artist with a fiery creative drive, in his work Emmanuel Schwartz aims to harness the ancient power of myths so as to reveal the underpinnings of the civilized conflicts woven into contemporary life.
In 2005 Emmanuel Schwartz and Wajdi Mouawad founded the company Abé Carré Cé Carré. Directed by these two artists (one Jewish, the other Arab), each works for and with the other, whether in Mouawad’s tetralogy Sang des promesses (2009) or Schwartz’s Chroniques (2010). Their company is a place for creative artists to engage in dialogue. A locus for new work, it is very much open to long-term projects for which conventional production methods are inadequate.
Press Quote(s)
« Coup de foudre professionnel entre deux hommes de théâtre: l’éminent auteur-metteur en scène libano-québécois, qui dessinait alors sa mirobolante saga théâtrale, avait reconnu une parenté d’âmes avec ce gamin polyvalent à la présence scénique exceptionnelle. Les deux bandes magnétiques s’étaient trouvées et, ensemble, elles formèrent une entité à angles droits, la compagnie de production montréalaise Abé Carré Cé Carré. »
Mélissa Proulx, Voir, 10 septembre 2009
“…we can’t help but tip our hat off to an enterprising young talent with a fertile mind and a fascinating worldview. […]In fact, the wide-ranging – and extensive – resume this 27 year-old has built up in recent years is nothing short of remarkable.”
Michael-Olivier Harding, Nightlife, June 4, 2010
A PROPOS DE CHRONIQUES
« Avec Chroniques, Emmanuel Schwartz, Alice Ronfard et Jérémie Niel font souffler sur la scène théâtrale montréalaise un air particulièrement vivifiant. […] Chroniques, l’une des créations les plus attendues de cet automne. Le triptyque, coproduit par Abé Carré Cé Carré et Pétrus, est particulièrement contrasté, souvent habité par une énergie adolescente, c’est-à-dire pleine de conviction et de débordements, mais aussi par une spectaculaire remise en question de l’ordre établi, une immense soif d’authenticité. […] En somme, Schwartz peut être fier de ce qu’il a accompli ici. On ne saurait trop vous conseiller de l’avoir, comme nous, dans le collimateur. »
Christian St-Pierre, Voir, 1 octobre 2009
« Avant de faire un théâtre d’action et de dialogue, il fait un théâtre narré, intéressé par les questions d’identité et la poésie. […] De sa plume naissent par ailleurs des phrases d’une grande beauté et chargées de sens. »
Alexandre Vigneault, La Presse, 30 septembre 2009
A PROPOS DE CALIGULA REMIX
« Schwartz est grandiose, puissant dans sa faiblesse. Ce comédien au faciès plus doux que son jeu, impressionne par sa force vocale et physique, portant le rôle de Caligula, dans tout son marasme et sa douleur. »
Julie Ledoux, BangBang, 17 février 2012
Credits
PRODUCED BY Abé Carré Cé Carré
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Emmanuel Schwartz
WITH Larissa Corriveau + Francis La Haye + Dominique Leclerc + Alexis Lefebvre + Jean Marchand + Marie-France Marcotte + Bernard Meney + Étienne Pilon + Ève Pressault + Mani Soleymanlou + Guillaume Tellier + Fanny Weilbrenner
DRAMATURGY Alice Ronfard
SOUND DESIGN Francis La Haye + Emmanuel Schwartz
LIGHTING DESIGN Martin Sirois
COSTUME DESIGN Fruzsina Lànyi
COPRODUCTION Festival TransAmériques + Canada’s National Arts Centre (Ottawa)
WRITTEN BY Paul Lefebvre
TRANSLATED BY Neil Kroetsch
Premiered at Canada's National Arts Centre, Ottawa, May 2, 2012
514 844 3822 / 1 866 984 3822
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED / FESTIVAL TRANSAMÉRIQUES