“The man who laughs has simply not yet had the terrible news,” wrote Bertolt Brecht, whose Threepenny Opera hasn’t been presented at the Théâtre français since the 1984 version directed by André Brassard. The incoming artistic director of the Théâtre français will be remounting the piece with a mind to restore its original ferocity, endowing it with a foundation full of verve and colour. To that end Brigitte Haentjens and her friend, the writer and translator Jean Marc Dalpé, have set the piece in Montreal in 1939 during the royal tour by George VI.

Created collectively and in almost anarchic fashion in Berlin in 1928 in the early days of Hitler’s rise to power, L’Opéra de quat’sous remains very much alive and resonant, for its bad manners, thirst for power, cynicism and desire for money are very much in evidence today. Are these traits characteristic of human beings, regardless of class distinctions and social roles? The most darkly ironic of musical comedies, the play highlights a community where crime is the norm, morality a careless mistake and lying just one means among many of exploiting your neighbour.

Among the motley crew of real and fake beggars, corrupt policemen, swindlers, crooks and prostitutes is the disturbing silhouette of Mack the Knife, whose latest coup is to have married the daughter of Jonathan Jeremiah Peachum, the crime lord who controls the beggars of the city. Determined not to let Polly fall under the sway of such an unsavory son-in-law, Peachum embarks on a merciless war against Mack, a confrontation complete with threats, snitches, double-crossers, treason and corruption, a story that is not merely of a grudge between two men but a portrait of society at large.

“I had to yield to Brecht, to accept his constraints in order to get beyond them. I had to plunge into the cave, the place where masks fall, where revolt is brewing, and face the chasms that L’Opéra de quat’sous sheds light on and that might very well be the landscape of the future. That plunge is the only way of summoning pleasure,” explains  the director.

Recently presented in Montreal, this new version of the mythical play, under the musical direction of Bernard Falaise, has been unanimously acclaimed by critics. The ambience onstage is electric as 23 actors and musicians driven by villainous energy (and some snazzy strutting and swaggering) heat up the stage, cut through conventions and rip holes in customary forms of representation. The merry band includes new additions to the regular group of Sibyllines actors, with Sébastien Ricard, Marc Béland and Céline Bonnier rubbing shoulders with Jacques Girard, Kathleen Fortin, Eve Gadouas and Maxim Gaudette, as well as several other performers. They bite into this caustic tale with gusto and sing about the trials and tribulations of life and love with fiery spirit, all that with devastating charm!

Brigitte Haentjens studied theatre in Paris at the Jacques Lecoq School before moving to Ontario in 1977. She quickly became a leading figure on the Franco-Ontarian theatre scene, first in Ottawa and then in Sudbury. For eight years she was artistic director of the Théâtre du Nouvel-Ontario, instilling within the company an artistic dynamism recognized in both Canada and in France. In 1991 she moved to Montreal where she soon became known for her incisive, original and personalized style. She founded Sibyllines in 1997 in order to further explore her artistic approach with greater freedom. Among her notable works are Quartett (Heiner Müller), Tout comme elle (Louise Dupré), Combat de nègre et de chiens (Bernard-Marie Koltès), La cloche de verre (Sylvia Plath) and Woyzeck (Georg Büchner). In 2007 she was the recipient of the Siminovitch Prize, the most eminent theatre award in the country.

Born in Ottawa, Jean Marc Dalpé is a co-founder of Théâtre de la Vieille 17. In addition to translating and writing novels and poetry collections, he has been artist in residence for several years at Théâtre du Nouvel-Ontario, the University of Ottawa, the Festival des Francophonies de Limoges, the Nouvelle Compagnie Théâtrale and the Théâtre de la Manufacture. He has received several awards: the Governor General’s Award in 1988 for his play Le Chien, the 1989 Prix du Nouvel-Ontario and the 1997 Prix Le Droit for his play Eddy, and the medal of the Ordre des Francophones d'Amérique in 1997. In 2007 he was the recipient of the Masque du texte original for his play Août – un repas à la campagne. Jean Marc Dalpé has been teaching playwrighting at the National Theatre School of Canada since 1995.

“Brigitte Haentjens has succeeded in harnessing the anger that imbues the piece and has it echo magnificently with contemporary rage in our era of worldwide protest, a movement of fury and anger at being at the mercy of bankers and financiers.”
Philippe Couture, Revue JEU

“With a nimble touch and precision, she has directed some twenty performers in a spectacle that evokes a fabulous post-expressionist cabaret.”
Luc Boulanger, La Presse

DISCUSSION

“Écritures et réécritures : les traductions de II (deux) et de L’Opéra de quat’sous de Jean Marc Dalpé”

Participants: JEAN MARC DALPÉ, BRIGITTE HAENTJENS, GENEVIÈVE PINEAULT (director and artistic director of Théâtre du Nouvel-Ontario) and ANNIE BRISSET (tenured professor affiliated with both the University of Ottawa’s School of Translation and Interpretation and its Theatre Department)

Friday, March 2 at 1 p.m.
At the Léonard Beaulne Studio, Theatre Department, University of Ottawa, 135 Séraphin Marion St.

Book and Lyrics
BERTOLT BRECHT

Music
KURT WEILL

Translation and adaptation
JEAN MARC DALPÉ

Musical director
BERNARD FALAISE

Director
BRIGITTE HAENTJENS

With
SÉBASTIEN RICARD
JACQUES GIRARD
KATHLEEN FORTIN
EVE GADOUAS
MARC BÉLAND
CÉLINE BONNIER
ÈVE PRESSAULT
MAXIM GAUDETTE
IANNICKO N’DOUA
MANI SOLEYMANLOU
FRÉDÉRIC MILLAIRE ZOUVI
FRANCIS DUCHARME
PIERRE-LUC BRILLANT
NICOLAS MICHON
LARISSA CORRIVEAU
ÉMILIE LAFOREST
SHARON JAMES
MARIKA LHOUMEAU
XENIA CHERNYSHOVA
PIERRE-LUC BRILLANT
JEAN DEROME
BERNARD FALAISE
ALEXANDRE GROGG
NICOLAS LETARTE

Produced by
PRODUCTIONS SIBYLLINES
in association with the
THÉÂTRE FRANÇAIS DU CNA

Technical and staging assistant
DOMINIQUE CUERRIER

Dramaturge and Assistant director
FLORENT SIAUD

Set Design
ANICK LA BISSONNIÈRE

Costumes
YSO

Lightning
GUY SIMARD

Hair and makeup
ANGELO BARSETTI

Sound design
FRÉDÉRIC AUGER

Props design
JULIE MEASROCH

Technical director
JEAN-FRANÇOIS LANDRY

Production manager
SÉBASTIEN BÉLAND

Length
2 hours 30 minutes with no intermission

NAC THEATRE
53 Elgin, Ottawa

Tickets
Adults: $33.90 +
Students: $18.45 +
Live Rush: $12

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French Theatre
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