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Illusions

Grand public
90 min.

Four actors of different mother tongues tell the story of two married couples. Coloured by accents, the language becomes collaborative. These four narrators take us on a tangled journey of love and death, loyalty and chaos, truth and fiction. All they ask of the audience is to listen.

Manolis Antoniou, a Greek-born, polyglot artist, takes us on a fascinating exploration of our relationship to language. Linguistic diversity is a central element of the Ottawa region, where cultures meet and where politics colour our experience of the landscape. Despite its ubiquity, Antoniou examines a facet of language not often addressed in French-language theater: the accent. The intangible. Through our accents, language becomes collaborative. As we cross boundaries between first, second, third, and even fourth languages, there is a constant undercurrent — a negotiation through accent. As one speaks, the other listens, following the shape of the mouth, tracing turns of phrase, asking to repeat, ou répéter.

This is a bilingual show with English and French surtitles.

2022-2023 Season

Date Location
3 May 2023 La Nouvelle Scène Gilles Desjardins
4 May 2023
5 May 2023
6 May 2023

Creative Team

Text Ivan Viripaev
Translations into French Tania Moguilevskaia and Gilles Morel, into English Cazimir Liske
Directed by Manolis Antoniou
Set design Kévin Pinvidic
Lighting Emilio Sebastiao
Lighting assistant Florence Letarte
Costumes Joshua Flint
Stage manager Dominique Payer

Cast Marika Karlsson, Gabrielle Brunet-Poirier, Matt Miwa et François Édouard Bernier