VARIATIONS POUR UNE DÉCHÉANCE ANNONCÉE
Angela Konrad takes hold of Chekhov and wields his work like a scalpel, pouring salt onto the open wounds of the present. A fierce, sensitive and viscerally contemporary reworking of The Cherry Orchard.
For her first presentation in Montreal, the German woman of the theatre Angela Konrad takes hold of Chekhov and wields his work like a scalpel, pouring salt onto the open wounds of the present. At the forefront is a wonderful troupe of actors dominated by a Dominique Quesnel in full mastery of her craft, creating an unforgettable and probably ruined Lyubov Andreyevna, whose insatiable desire to live stirs the imagination.
Out with the samovars, birches, lace and the nostalgia of Chekhovian folklore! To pay off the family’s debts, the cherry orchard is to be sold, destroyed and developed into summer cottages. A world collapses. The celebrated Russian writer presents a bittersweet tragedy about people who are unwilling to adapt, but who do not wish to die. These brilliant Variation…s depict both the idle bourgeoisie of early 20th century Russia and our frenetic contemporary society, a bankrupt world we seek to escape as we dance to the music of Amy Winehouse. A fierce, sensitive and viscerally contemporary reworking of the theatre masterpiece that is The Cherry Orchard.
PRODUCED BY LA FABRIK
ADAPTED FROM THE CHERRY ORCHARD BY ANTON TCHEKHOV
ADAPTED AND DIRECTED BY ANGELA KONRAD
PERFORMED BY STÉPHANIE CARDI (ANIA) + FRANCINE CHARBONNEAU (PIANO) + PHILIPPE COUSINEAU (LOPAKHINE) + MARC-ANDRÉ GOULET (TROFIMOV) + ANDRÉANE LECLERC (CHARLOTTA) + MARIE-LAURENCE MOREAU (VARIA) + GILLES PROVOST (FIRS) + DOMINIQUE QUESNEL (LIOUBOV) + DORIAN QUILICOT (L’ENFANT / THE CHILD) + TÉO LE CHIEN / THE DOG
ASSISTANT DRAMATURG STEVE GIASSON
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR ADAM FAUCHER
SOUND DESIGN LAURENT MASLÉ
LIGHTING DESIGN NANCY BUSSIÈRES IN ASSOCIATION WITH CÉDRIC DÉLORME-BOUCHARD
PRODUCED WITH THE SUPPORT OF FACULTÉ DES ARTS DE L’UQAM (AIDE À LA RECHERCHE-CRÉATION PAFARC) + USINE C PRESENTED IN ASSOCIATION WITH USINE C
WRITTEN BY PAUL LEFEBVRE
TRANSLATED BY NEIL KROETSCH
PREMIERED AT USINE C, MONTREAL, NOVEMBER 6, 2013
ANGELA KONRAD | LA FABRIK (Montreal)
For a theatre of subtraction
Variations pour une déchéance annoncée is the first production by the theatre company LA FABRIK, founded in Montreal in 2012 by the director and dramaturge Angela Konrad. Angela Konrad left her native Germany for Canada after studying and working for two decades in Germany and France, where she was a co-director of the company In Pulverem Reverteris.
