The Association québécoise des critiques de théâtre (AQCT) announced on November 25 the winners of the Prix de la critique for the 2014-15 season in Montreal. The FTA is especially proud to note that among the winning plays are two works presented at the FTA in 2015. TARTUFFE by Michaël Thalheimer and the prestigious Schaubühne in Berlin won in the category Hors Québec, and TOUT ARTAUD?! by Christian Lapointe received a special award to honour this “exceptional public reading marathon that lasted for over two days, provoking a passionate response from Festival TransAmériques spectators.” The FTA extends its congratulations to all of this year’s winners and also to all the finalists, including Evelyne de la Chenelière in the category Meilleur spectacle Montréal for her play LUMIÈRES, LUMIÈRES, LUMIÈRES loosely based on Virginia Woolf’s To the Lighthouse. It was directed by Denis Marleau in an ESPACE GO production. The script was featured in a staged reading at FTA 2014 during the Tables de lecture 1, 2, 3 event.

A word from the critics:

IN THE CATEGORY HORS QUÉBEC

“Molière’s TARTUFFE as staged by Michael Thalheimer in this Schaubühne production from Germany was presented at the Festival TransAmériques. This courageous reworking dared to make Tartuffe a bona fide religious fanatic rather than a falsely pious cleric, thus providing eloquent comment on the contemporary West, disconcerted more often than not by the return of religion. With phenomenal actors and an astonishing set design, the play also embraced a variety of performance traditions including extreme burlesque, yet without sinking into caricature it navigated the frontiers of comedy and tragedy with consummate skill. A remarkable production.”

SPECIAL AWARD

“An award given to CHRISTIAN LAPOINTE for TOUT ARTAUD?!, a Recto-Verso production presented in association with Théâtre La Chapelle and Festival TransAmériques. The director, playwright, actor and theorist Christian Lapointe will now also be known as having left his mark on the history of Quebec theatre with his audacious project Tout Artaud?!, where he spent almost three days and nights onstage at the Théâtre La Chapelle in the company of the words of Artaud and a few props that were soon transformed into scenery and symbols through the magic of spontaneous, quasi-mystical theatre. A radical theatre act, this reading marathon was by turns spiritual, playful and critical, but above all left spectators with a feeling of the urgency and necessity of being in the theatre, a rare communion with the stage, something far beyond its usual frameworks and formats. For all these reasons, it was an exceptional event. A real lesson in theatre, without compromise and without embellishments.”

TARTUFFE AND TOUT ARTAUD?! RECEIVE 2014-15 PRIX DE LA CRITIQUE AWARDS

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