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Herbiet, Jean

Jean Herbiet
Jean Herbiet

Director born in Namur, Belgium, December 16, 1930; died March 31, 2008 of heart failure at the age of 77. Jean Herbiet studied theatre in Belgium before arriving in Ottawa, Ontario in 1957, where he taught at the University of Ottawa. He began to direct at the university, and his student company toured throughout Ontario and Quebec, and to the Festival de Nancy in France (where it won second prize in 1964 with La Cantatrice chauve/The Bald Soprano).

Herbiet directed at the National Theatre School of Canada and across Canada, including several magnificent collaborations with Felix Mirbt: Büchner's Woyzeck (1974) and Strindberg's A Dream Play (1977).

He became the first Artistic Director of the French company of the National Arts Centre in 1971 until 1982, where he directed twenty-five productions, and hosted the world premiere of Michel Tremblay's Bonjour, la, bonjour in 1974.

His publications include a collection of eight historical one-act plays, Huit promenades sur les plaines d'Abraham, and a full-length play La Rose Rôtie.

He has said of theatre, "Spectators always find themselves in the theatre because the person who is playing, or directing or decorating a play is a being who lives in the world of today."

Profile by Gaetan Charlebois.

Last updated 2021-01-25