MILLE ANONYMES
The “1000 Unknown” are implacable combatants of the everyday. Their words take flight on the poetic gusts of Daniel Danis’ writing. A bold allegory of resistance.
Living Souls
The “1000 Unknown” are unwavering combatants of everyday life, accepting isolation and symbiosis with nature rather than being displaced, their homes razed. The mine is shut down, there are no more jobs, no electricity – so be it, they refuse to be evicted. Their community will not become a ghost town. They will persist. They’re staying, intractable.
The language is brusque, laconic and symbolic, driven aloft like the north wind by the innovative, poetic blasts of the playwright. The bodies, framed by the set design and by close-ups projected on video screens, radiate in the shadows of a dream-like world of echo and evocation.
A powerful voice in contemporary Quebec theatre, Daniel Danis has written and directed this masterly portrait of a threatened society whose eccentric existence is coloured by danger and beauty.
Vision of the Future
The Daniel Danis arts/sciences company was established in 2006, a result of the playwright’s desire to include directing in the creative process initiated by the writing, and to explore the myriad staging possibilities offered by technology. The company’s plays, including La trilogie des flous, Kiwi and Yukie, are veritable artistic laboratories where the barriers dividing cinema, theatre and the visual arts are abolished in order to achieve a beauty of word and image that is both dreamlike and innovative. The company has been in artistic residence at La Caserne in Quebec City since 2009.
PRODUCED BY COMPAGNIE DANIEL DANIS, ARTS/SCIENCES
WRITTEN AND CREATED BYDANIEL DANIS PERFORMED BYSYLVIO ARRIOLA + FRÉDÉRICK BOUFFARD + JEAN-PIERRE CLOUTIER + MARIANNE MARCEAU + ALEXANDRINE WARRENARTISTIC CONTRIBUTORS LIONEL ARNOULD + NADIA BELLEFEUILLE + STÉPHANE CARON + JEAN-PIERRE CLOUTIER + JEAN-FRANÇOIS LABBÉ + VINCENT LECLERC (ESKI) + VÉRONIQUE MASSÉ + MATHIEU THÉBAUDEAU
COPRODUCTION FESTIVAL TRANSAMÉRIQUES + LES PRODUCTIONS RECTO-VERSO + EX MACHINA LA CASERNE DALHOUSIE + CARREFOUR INTERNATIONAL DE THÉÂTRE DE QUÉBEC
PRESENTED IN ASSOCATION WITH ESPACE GO
WRITTEN BY SOPHIE POULIOTTRANSLATED BY NEIL KROETSCH
DANIEL DANIS (QUÉBEC)
Esteemed Poet
In 1993 Daniel Danis’ first play Celle-là received three prestigious awards and marked the beginning of a prolific and acclaimed career. This playwright, now living in Québec city, has since written a number of other plays, including Cendres de cailloux, Le Langue-à-langue des chiens de roche, Terre océane and last year’s Yukie, not to mention his plays for young audiences such as Kiwi and Bled.
