Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia
Mouawad, Wajdi
Quebec -based actor/playwright/director, born in Lebanon in 1968. He came to Montreal from Paris at the age of nine. He graduated from the National Theatre School of Canada in 1991 (He has since directed there).
He came to notice as a director, forming the Théâtre O Parleur when he left NTS (with Isabelle Leblanc), and when he staged a walking production of Shakespeare 's Macbeth (in French) in Old Montreal that began at two o'clock in the morning. He was also noticed for his exuberant participation in the premiere of Cabaret Neiges Noires . He also performed in the well-received production of Camus' Caligula ( Nouvelle Compagnie Théâtrale / Théâtre Denise-Pelletier ) and in his own play, Alphonse.
His plays include Partie de cache-cache entre deux Tshécoslovaques au début du siècle, Willy Protagoras enfermé dans les toilettes, Les Mains d'Edwidge au moment de la naissance and Journée de noces chez les Cro-Magnons (performed at Théâtre d'Aujourd'hui in 1995, translated by Shelley Tepperman as Wedding Day at the Cro-magnons, and staged at the National Arts Centre and Theatre Passe Muraille , 1996).
This work reflects his upbringing in war-torn Lebanon and tells of a family which decides to go ahead with the marriage of their only daughter despite the bombs falling around them, despite the strains within the family, and despite the fact the bridegroom doesn't exist.
In 1998, his career exploded when he was involved in the production of no fewer than four productions in major theatres in Quebec, and the Festival de théâtre francophone de Limoges (France) consecrated him (as they had done previously with Robert Lepage and Michel Marc Bouchard . He also received the Quebec critics' circle award for his production of his own play Willy Protagoras... . His play, Les mains d'Edwidge... opened at Théâtre d'Aujourd'hui. In February, 1999, the production of his adaptation of Don Quixote ( Théâtre du Nouveau Monde ) won the Masque for best Montreal presentation. At the gala, it was announced that Littoral (1997, translated by Shelley Tepperman as Tideline) had been invited to the prestigious Festival d'Avignon in summer, 1999. It was very successful there, and toured Europe as well.
His work, Rêves, was presented as part of the 1999 Festival de Théâtre des Amériques (now Festival TransAmériques ), and revived in 2000 at Théâtre de Quat'Sous . Willy was revived at Théâtre d'Aujourd'hui in September, 1999. His Alphonse premiered in English at Pink Ink Theatre (now Pi Theatre ) in Vancouver, 1998, and was subsequently produced in 2000 at Northern Light Theatre in Edmonton.
Incendies, translated by Linda Gaboriau as Scorched, premiered in France in 2003, and subsequently in Quebec in the same year at Théâtre de Quat'Sous (dir. Mouawad) during the Festival de théâtre des Ameriques; and at the Tarragon Theatre in 2007, and the Citadel Theatre in 2009. It is the second play in a tetralogy, and continues to explore the question of origins. Following the death of her mother, the daughter returns to the Middle East to find a lost father and brother, and experiences the horror of war and the possibility of redemption for herself and her brother.
In September, 2008, his solo work, Seuls -- a daring homage to Robert Lepage -- sold out at the Théâtre d'Aujourd'hui in Montreal.
In May, 2000, Mouawad directed the English-language production of Jason Sherman 's Reading Hebron for Teesri Duniya Theatre , in Montreal.
In May, 1999, he was named to the artistic directorship of the Théâtre de Quat'Sous, serving from January, 2000 until 2004. He promised seasons of "ethics, ideas, symbols, morality and philosophy" for the house. In 2001 he launched the season of Quat'Sous with his own adaptation of Pirandello's Six Characters in Search of an Author.
On the controversy he stirred when he "admitted" to believing in God he told Hour Magazine (Montreal, August 26, 1999), "I never thought that saying I was a believer would provoke such vitriol. I was merely explaining my optimism [vis a vis his childhood in war-torn Lebanon, for instance]. I was made to believe that to be an artist and to believe in God was shameful. In my spirit, a separation exists between art and faith. Art is the public character of something, faith is the subterranean and interior character of something. The act of creation is a human act. It is communication between humans. When I work, my attention is on the way people live among themselves. That's what interests me. Not the relationship between humans and God. Though the subject is important, the plays which I will find interesting will always put it in a human context, first."
In his writing and in his directing, Wajdi Mouawad explores the tension between individual freedom and the renunciation of the self, quoting Kafka on the subject: “In the struggle between yourself and the world, back the world.”
In November, 2000, Wajdi Mouawad received the Governor General's Award for Littoral. He was named Artistic Director of the National Arts Centre French Theatre in 2007 for a five-year term.
Gaetan Charlesbois and Anne Nothof
Last updated 2010-02-03
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