Le projet Riopelle

Biography in living canvases by Robert Lepage / Ex Machina

2023-12-14 19:00 2023-12-17 23:30 60 Canada/Eastern 🎟 NAC: Le projet Riopelle

https://nac-cna.ca/en/event/33682

In-person event

With his incomparable theatrical genius, Robert  Lepage revives the light-and-shadow existence of the master of lyrical abstraction, Jean  Paul  Riopelle. The anchor point: his fresco Tribute to Rosa Luxemburg, which he began the day after the announcement of the death of his soulmate, painter Joan  Mitchell. Thirty paintings like thirty sequences of a torrid love story and an extraordinary life woven into the fabric of a sociocultural revolution.  Theatre is a...

Read more

Babs Asper Theatre,1 Elgin Street,Ottawa,Canada
December 14 - 17, 2023
December 14 - 17, 2023
This event has passed
Caroline Robert and Vincent Morisset - Studio AATOAA © Ex Machina / Danny Taillon
lpr-dannytaillon-5865
Printing the "Refus global" © Ex Machina / Danny Taillon
lpr-dannytaillon-6425
Painting Course © Ex Machina / Danny Taillon
lpr-dannytaillon-6549
Young Riopelle in Paris © Ex Machina / Danny Taillon
lpr-dannytaillon-7096
Lovers on the Seine © Ex Machina / Danny Taillon
lpr-dannytaillon-7227
Doubts and Elevation © Ex Machina / Danny Taillon
lpr-dannytaillon-7257
Riopelle and Joan © Ex Machina / Danny Taillon
lpr-dannytaillon-7456
Beach Time © Ex Machina / Danny Taillon
Caroline Robert and Vincent Morisset - Studio AATOAA © Ex Machina / Danny Taillon
lpr-dannytaillon-5865
Printing the "Refus global" © Ex Machina / Danny Taillon
lpr-dannytaillon-6425
Painting Course © Ex Machina / Danny Taillon
lpr-dannytaillon-6549
Young Riopelle in Paris © Ex Machina / Danny Taillon
lpr-dannytaillon-7096
Lovers on the Seine © Ex Machina / Danny Taillon
lpr-dannytaillon-7227
Doubts and Elevation © Ex Machina / Danny Taillon
lpr-dannytaillon-7257
Riopelle and Joan © Ex Machina / Danny Taillon
lpr-dannytaillon-7456
Beach Time © Ex Machina / Danny Taillon
“The layers and colours of a great painter’s life ”
  • In-person event
  • Français
  • ≈ 4 hours and 05 minutes · With intermission
NAC PremiereOttawa Premiere NAC Co-productionNAC Presentation

With his incomparable theatrical genius, Robert  Lepage revives the light-and-shadow existence of the master of lyrical abstraction, Jean  Paul  Riopelle. The anchor point: his fresco Tribute to Rosa Luxemburg, which he began the day after the announcement of the death of his soulmate, painter Joan  Mitchell. Thirty paintings like thirty sequences of a torrid love story and an extraordinary life woven into the fabric of a sociocultural revolution. 

Theatre is a powerful time machine that Robert Lepage uses to explore the many layers and textures of Riopelle’s life: the student and his teacher Paul-Émile Borduas, who introduced him to the signatories of the Refus global; the émigré in Paris, alongside Breton, Beckett, Giacometti; Riopelle and Mitchell, in two parts, featuring two pairs of dazzling performers, including Luc Picard and Anne-Marie-Cadieux; and finally Riopelle in his twilight years on Île-aux-Grues, expanding his legacy with the famous silhouettes of birds and objects captured forever in spray paint. 

With his unique signature, his humour, his virtuosity as a dramatic storyteller and his perceptive view of Quebec’s identity, the creator of The Dark Side of the Moon and 887 revives the memory of an authentic free spirit in a tribute to one of the pioneers of contemporary art. 

Artists

  • robert-lepage
    Written, designed and directed by Robert Lepage
  • Coauthor, creative direction and design Steve Blanchet
  • Written, designed and directed by Robert Lepage
  • With Anne-Marie Cadieux, Violette Chauveau, Richard Fréchette, Gabriel Lemire, Étienne Lou, Noémie O’Farrell, Luc Picard, Audrée Southière and Philippe Thibault-Denis
  • Extras David Biron and Clément Desbiens
  • Coauthor, creative direction and design Steve Blanchet
  • Dialogues Olivier Kemeid
  • Assistant director Félix Dagenais
  • Music and sound design Laurier Rajotte
  • Associate set design Ariane Sauvé
  • Images design Félix Fradet-Faguy
  • Lighting design Lucie Bazzo
  • Costumes design Virginie Leclerc
  • Properties design Eveline Tanguay
  • Choreography Jeffrey Hall
  • Choreography – Fire Island Madeleine Bellefeuille, with the great collaboration of Jeffrey Hall
  • Production manager Marie-Pierre Gagné
  • Production assistant Véronique St-Jacques
  • Technical director, creation Olivier Bourque
  • Tour manager Carole-Anne Roberge
  • Technical director, tour Emmanuelle Nappert
  • Stage manager Adèle Saint-Amand
  • Sound manager Marcin Bunar
  • Lighting manager Zacharie Filteau
  • Video manager Zachary Noël-Ferland
  • Assistant stage managers Anne Marie Bureau and Louis-Philippe Cloutier
  • Stagehands Olivier Bourque and Samuel Sérandour
  • Costumes manager Virginie Leclerc
  • Manager costumes - creation Isabel Poulin
  • Costume maker Par Apparat confection créative, Isabelle Couillard
  • Make up Élène Pearson
  • Wigs Rachel Tremblay, assisted by Sarah Tremblay and Xavier Charbonneau-Gravel
  • Sound project manager and R&D Stanislas Elie
  • Video project manager and R&D Samuel Sérandour
  • Video programming - creation Gabrielle Martineau
  • Scenic painting Amélie Trépanier
  • Set building Astuce Décors, Conception Alain Gagné, and Unisson
  • Set & props building collaborators Serge Belleau, Hugues Bernatchez, Chloé Blanchet, Geneviève Bournival, Anne Marie Bureau, Carol Ann Charrette, Marie McNicoll, Bruno Petit, Guylaine Petitclerc, Ludovic Poirot, Émilie Potvin, Noémie Richard, Géraldine Rondeau, and Érica Schmitz
  • Properties manager Chloé Blanchet
  • Music copyright clearance Delphine Saint-Marcoux, La Négo
  • Robert Lepage’s agent Lynda Beaulieu
  • Producer Ex Machina 
  • Coproducers Fondation Jean Paul Riopelle, Duceppe, Le Diamant and NAC French Theatre
  • Producer for Ex Machina Michel Bernatchez
  • Associate producer Hélène Paradis
  • Executive producer Europe, Japan: Epidemic (Richard Castelli, assisted by Florence Berthaud)
  • Executive producer Americas, Asia (except Japan), Australia, New Zealand: Menno Plukker Theatre Agent (Menno Plukker, assisted by Magdalena Marszalek and Isaïe Richard)