Leçons combines contemporary dance and the theatre of the absurd. Inspired by Ionesco’s The Lesson, the play was adapted for eight dancer-actors. A professor haunted by a desire to inform and educate is unable to control his urges, and the bodies start piling up. In a flashback, the recently departed souls reconstruct what pushed them too far in their thirst for knowledge. Five of the performers have intellectual disabilities. The themes of knowledge and understanding are exposed to two worlds: that of disability and that of so-called normality.
Through theatre and dance, this creation presents a vision of a world where those who hold the knowledge seem to have the most trouble adapting. We may well wonder who is more normal—the student or the professor?
« A very touching piece, a ballet successfully choreographed
to the dreamlikespirit of the master of the absurd »
- English translation, Michel Vais, Cahiers Théâtre-Jeu
Cast (Chorus of Students) Marc Barakat Claude-Michel Bogina Éric Vincent Carrié Edon Descollines Carl Hennebert Faulkner Geneviève Morin-Dupont Marie-Soleil Pilette |
(The Professor) Richard Gaulin Choreographer Menka Nagrani Director Richard Gaulin Lighting design Joel Beaupré |
Costume design Karine Lasalle Music Gabriel Fauré, Claude Lamothe, St-Germain, Nils Peter Molvaer Stage manager Kim Perrault |