European Theatre in the Spotlight

Two major productions will delight lovers of international theatre. The centrepiece of this year's Festival is LACRIMA, a French production that made a splash at the most recent Festival d'Avignon and has sold out venues all around Europe since it started touring. In this fast-paced ensemble drama, director Caroline Guiela Nguyen dives into the world of high fashion to depict the violence of power relations and the conditions of workers and artisans. Albania native Mario Banushi, a rising star of Greek theatre, has astounded audiences with Taverna Miresia – Mario, Bella, Anastasia, a wordless play made up of tableaux steeped in beauty that evokes his father's absence while paying tribute to the women who have shaped his life.

C la vie—A Celebration of Life!

A must-see experience! FTA is offering Montrealers the chance to attend a major international show for free in the enchanting setting of Théâtre de Verdure at Parc La Fontaine. The closing show of the Festival, C la vie is a work by the Burkinabè choreographer Serge Aimé Coulibaly featuring seven magnificent dancers, a singer, and a percussionist that celebrates the power of community with wild abandon. The dancers from Faso Danse Théâtre will also lead a series of free activities over a weekend at the Esplanade Tranquille in the Quartier des spectacles that will get both kids and adults moving, including dances classes open to all and a danced concert with Burkinabè singer Patrick Kabré.

From Opera to Concerto

Live music—a free concert, opera singers, guitars, percussion, etc.—will add a special energy to almost a dozen shows this year. Christian Lapointe will team up with Australian composer Rósa Lind, opera company Chants libres, and Quatuor Bozzini to stage a contemporary opera based on the film Hiroshima mon amour by Marguerite Duras and Alain Resnais. In concerto, an installation/concert composed of visual, choreographic, and sonic landscapes at the intersection of the political and the poetic, Charlie Khalil Prince and Olivia Tapiero will orchestrate a moment of suspended time conducive to meditation.

Wedding of the Year

Montreal underground icon Elle Barbara invites you to her wedding amid the architectural splendour of Très-Saint-Rédempteur church. Combining music, dance, multimedia, and revisionist Bible stories, AUTOGYNEGAMY promises to be an interdisciplinary performance of stunning intensity.

Dance Legends

The great Louise Lecavalier, an FTA regular, will present the North American premiere of her new solo piece, danses vagabondes. Another radiant presence, South Africa's Mamela Nyamza is considered one of her continent's leading choreographers. She will present her work in Montreal for the first time with Hatched Ensemble, a sublime group piece that upends the conventions of ballet.

Invoking the Missing

Through the hypnotic movements of Shiraz, Iran's Armin Hokmi serves up a mysterious and compelling work that pays tribute to a lost festival from the Levant. In Toi, moi, Tituba…, the Rwandan choreographer and musician Dorothée Munyaneza draws inspiration from the feminist philosopher Elsa Dorlin and the character of Tituba from Maryse Condé’s eponymous novel, linking them with the genealogies of women erased from history. Dorcy Rugamba was one of the authors and performers of the legendary play Rwanda 94, invited to FTA in 2001. A survivor of the genocide against the Tutsi, he will present Hewa Rwanda, lettre aux absents, a staged reading with music that combines songs and stories to celebrate life and commune with the disappeared. In Un-nevering, the Montreal choreographer Thea Patterson takes ownership of loss with a vibrant posthumous tribute to her life partner and collaborator Jeremy Gordaneer. HEAVEN FM, by Natalie Tin Yin Gan from the Vancouver company Hong Kong Exile, incorporates radio transmissions into a subtle and low-tech mini opus that resonates with Chinese funeral ceremonies.

Relearning the Land

Two works of documentary theatre from Latin America mark the return of artists already popular with FTA audiences. In Centroamérica, Mexican collective Lagartijas Tiradas al Sol travels to Central America, discovering there a world of revolutions, human rights struggles, cryptocurrencies, and dictatorships. When the two artists encounter an exiled Nicaraguan woman during their research, things suddenly get real. In Wayqeycuna, which means "my brothers" in Quechua, Tiziano Cruz recounts returning to his Indigenous community in northern Argentina and advocates reconciliation through mixing family history with a critique of colonialism and capitalism.

Playing with Perspective

No one plays the game of shifting perspectives better than artists. In the existential thriller Extérieur/nuit, Théâtre Indépendant deliver a disconcerting sensory experience that sends its characters careening dangerously into the depths of the night. In her solo piece Gentle Unicorn, Italy's Chiara Bersani draws inspiration from the figure of the unicorn to transform our vision of disability, creating a highly sensitive and persuasive manifesto for difference. With charm and cruelty, Harald Beharie reappropriates myths and fantasies associated with the queer body in his piece Batty Bwoy. Driven by friendship and love of dance, Sovann Rochon-Prom Tep devised Millepertuis for Walid "Waldo" Hammani, a master of popping and electro dance with boundless charisma.

Lighting Fires

The Bureau de L’APA will transform Pompières et pyromanes, an essay by Martine Delvaux, into an astounding artistic intervention. Amid a hot mess of smoking toasters and shrieking fire alarms, the multidisciplinary collective from Quebec City will light fires under bodies, words, and struggles in a cry of love and resistance. This work undoubtedly sets the tone for a passionate, joyous Festival that refuses to downplay the state of our world and the threats facing our planet.

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