February 21–24, 2018, at 7:30 p.m. in the NAC’s Babs Asper Theatre

** Please note, seats are not assigned for this performance. The audience will be seated on stage on two sets of bleachers, with the set in the centre.**

“The initial shock, a kind of big bang, catapults Hugues Frenette, the Dealer, and Sébastien Ricard, the Client, into a merciless sparring match with a spine-chilling conclusion.”

Christian Saint-Pierre, Le Devoir, January 26, 2018

 

OTTAWA, February 9, 2018 – In the dead of night, on the corner of a deserted street, two men cross paths. The first is a dealer; the second must be a client. The two engage in a disturbing verbal joust that exposes the logic of desire and the inescapable differences that divide us.

Koltès’ distinctive voice comes through in a series of monologues loaded with verbal collisions and poetic juxtapositions. His shadowy, back-lit characters size each other up like animals; in the end, their metaphysical combat becomes a very real physical confrontation.

This new production directed by Brigitte Haentjens is performed by two outstanding actors: Sébastien Ricard, a long-time associate of Haentjens, and Hugues Frenette, whom she previously directed in Sophocles’ Antigone.

“Dans la solitude des champs de coton delivers the equivalent of an ‘intellectual orgasm.’”

Mario Cloutier,  La Presse, January 29,2018

 

Written by Bernard-Marie Koltès // Directed by Brigitte Haentjens // With Hugues Frenette and Sébastien Ricard // Assistant director and stage manager: Jean Gaudreau // Dramaturg: Mélanie Dumont // Set design: Anick La Bissonnière // Lighting: Alexandre Pilon‑Guay // Music: Bernard Falaise // Costumes: Julie Charland // Makeup: Angelo Barsetti // Sound design: Frédéric Auger // Technical director: Jérémi Guilbault‑Asselin // Production director: Sébastien Béland // Administrative director: Xavier Inchauspé

Created by Sibyllines, copresented by Usine C & coproduced by NAC French Theatre

Running time: approximately 1 hour 10 minutes

 

CREATOR BIOS

Bernard-Marie Koltès | Playwright

Born in 1948, deceased in 1989, Bernard‑Marie Koltès is one of those shooting stars that streak across the literary sky and vanish all too quickly. His language reflects a world view pervaded by upheaval and the guilt of decolonization; his theatre is urban, ambiguous, seductive. His intense, rigorous body of work includes the masterpieces Combat de nègre et de chiens (1979), Dans la solitude des champs de coton (1985), Le retour au désert (1988) and Roberto Zucco (1988); his plays have been staged by the great Peter Stein in Berlin and, notably, Patrice Chéreau in Nanterre and Paris. Here in Canada, Brigitte Haentjens has directed Combat de nègre et de chiens and two productions of La nuit juste avant les forêts.

 

Brigitte Haentjens | Director

Recipient of the 2017 Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for lifetime artistic achievement, the 2007 Siminovitch Prize in Theatre and the 2007 Gascon-Thomas Award, Brigitte Haentjens was named artistic director of NAC French Theatre in 2012 (the first woman to occupy the position). For this outstanding artist, acclaimed for her exceptional contribution to Franco-Ontarian theatre, the appointment represented a kind of homecoming and an acknowledgment of her highly original and compelling artistic practice. A passionate lover of literature, a director keenly interested in issues of female identity, power and sexuality, she is known for dazzlingly innovative productions marked by uncompromising rigour. They include most recently Une femme à Berlin and Molly Bloom. She is also the artistic director of the Montreal-based company Sibyllines, which she founded in 1997.