In the heart of a beautiful province lives a shattered man who is “hanging on despite the in spite ofs.” He dreams of his idea of perfect happiness: a little white house by the water, the sky, the sea. Like a vintage Stradivarius, his soul emits a particular harmony whenever he utters certain names. His own name is Gaetan Desrosiers-Blanc.

Born with two hearts, Gaëtan, unbeknownst to him, has the amazing power to recognize and appreciate true Beauty wherever it is found. As night watchman at the National Museum, he discovers, through the power of ART and some great artists—Chet Baker, Renoir, Louis-Cristobal Gauthier, Hermann Hesse, and Sister Yvette Saint-Sauveur, known as the crazy singing redhead—the ultimate HOPE of putting together the fragments of his identity, of his splintered life as a shattered man…

This second one-man show by Marcel Pomerlo continues the creative journey launched with his successful L'INOUBLIÉ ou Marcel Pomme-dans-l'eau. Un récit-fleuve, presented at the NAC in May 2004. French Theatre is pleased to partner with Momentum to produce GAËTAN (pièces à assembler à la maison).

The show features paintings by Marc Tremblay, TENIR EN DÉPIT DES MALGRÉ (“hanging on despite the in spite ofs”), from his series La manière noire.
The artist explains, “On the literal level, the title of this series of works on paper refers to the dark background, the black surface of the paper illuminated by bright splashes of colour. But mostly, ‘la manière noire’ (mezzotint printmaking method) is a cryptic narrative that explores the obscure reaches of the human mind. It’s a singular exercise in trephination whose ultimate aim is to reveal the myriad phantasms and terrors buried deep within the human spirit. Thus, despite their roots in a fictional autobiography, the works inspired by this individual adventure are wide open to interpretation. They present a combination of image archetypes where places, people and legends (words and phrases) are deliberately simplified to create a strange, surreal atmosphere and reveal the universality of the concept behind the nine paintings in the series.”

Marcel Pomerlo has appeared in 70 productions at major theatres throughout Quebec (including the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, Espace Libre, Rideau Vert, Prospero, Espace GO, Licorne, Place des Arts, Théâtre Denise-Pelletier, and Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui), and on tour in Europe (France, Belgium, Italy, Romania, Portugal, Scotland, England). He has brought his keen artistic sensibility and passion to works by leading authors both classic and contemporary: Racine, Pinter, Botho Strauss, Vian, Jean Frédéric Messier, Shepard, Besson, Havel, Mrozek, Fassbinder, Jean Pierre Ronfard, Agota Kristof, Ravenhill, Reginald Rose, Serge Marois, Shakespeare, and more. A founding member of MOMENTUM, he has directed several plays by Jean Frédéric Messier (Nuits blanches, Le Fête des morts, and the original productions of Le Dernier Délire permis, Helter Skelter, and Ange Noir). He performs regularly with the Montreal-based multidisciplinary company Pigeons International, where he has appeared in six productions directed by Paula de Vasconcelos. Over the past few seasons he has portrayed several writers: Paul Verlaine in Les Poètes maudits, Elie Wiesel in Si je savais écrire, moi…, Arthur Rimbaud in Les Jours fragiles, Jean Paul Daoust in My Name Is Jean Paul, and Jean Cocteau in Piaf. As well, he directed two productions in which he also performed: Assez by Samuel Beckett, and Et j’ai entendu les vieux dragons… by Dany Boudreault. His recent directing credits include Visage retrouvé by Wajdi Mouawad, Passages by Catherine Dajczman, and Sonate d’automne by Ingmar Bergman (presented at the NAC in May 2010). A true lover of literature, he is the former artistic director of the Festival de TROIS literary festival and has organized many literary events. He also works in film and television. He is a regular contributor to the periodicals Moebius, JEU and L’Oiseau-Tigre, and is a member of the Centre des auteurs dramatiques (CEAD).

Momentum is a company of nine artists, each with a distinctive creative vision, who share a common desire to create contemporary theatre and broaden the scope of the art form: Céline Bonnier, Nathalie Claude, Stéphane Crête, Stéphane Demers, Dominique Leduc, Jean Frédéric Messier, Sylvie Moreau, François Papineau and Marcel Pomerlo.

« Pris par la main par le naïf Gaëtan pour la durée de la représentation, on quitte le théâtre […] enchanté et animé par l'envie de l'imiter en cartographiant nous aussi le petit temple des chefs-d’œuvre qui nous habitent et nous constituent. »
Alexandre Cadieux, Le Devoir

Written, directed and interpreted by
MARCEL POMERLO

Assistant director and Control room
MARTIN BOISJOLY

Advisor
DOMINQUE LEDUC

Set design
CÉDRIC LORD
MARCEL POMERLO
inspired by paintings from
MARC TREMBLAY

Lightning
MARC PARENT

Lightning adaptation for the NAC
LEE ANHOLT

Music
ÉRIC FORGET
with the help of
MARCEL POMERLO

Costumes
MARCEL POMERLO

Accessories and Costumes helper
AUDREY GAUDET

Video
OLIVIER BOCHENEK
ROGERT DUFRESNE

Video control
OLIVIER BOCHENEK

Production direction
LUCIE MINEAU

Technical direction
GEOFFREY LEVINE
RÉAL DORVAL

Carpentry
MARCO COLLIN

Muse
GENEVIÈVE ROBITAILLE

Created by
MOMENTUM
and the
THÉÂTRE FRANÇAIS DU CNA

Length
1 hour 40 minutes with no intermission

NAC STUDIO
53 Elgin, Ottawa

Tickets
Adults: $34.98
Students: $18.99
Live Rush: $12

NAC Box Office
(Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.)
www.nac-cna.ca

Ticketmaster
1-888-991-2787

Groups (10 persons or more)
613-947-7000, ext. 634
grp@nac-cna.ca

Subscriptions
613-947-7000, ext. 620

Sylvain Lavoie
Communications Officer
French Theatre
National Arts Centre
tel.: 613-947-7000 ext 396
tool free: 1-866-850-2787 ext 396
cell.: 613-979-2636
sylvain.lavoie@nac-cna.ca
www.facebook.com/TFduCNA