Playwright and novelist Normand Chaurette died Wednesday at the age of 68.
The news was first reported by Radio-Canada, which was confirmed by the Goodwin Agency, which represented the artist.
Born in 1954 in Montreal, Normand Chaurette particularly distinguished himself with the plays he wrote during the 90s and 2000s, including “Le Passage de l’Indiana” and “Le Petit Kochël”, both of which won a Governor General’s Literary Award.
A great admirer of the work of William Shakespeare, Mr. Chaurette has also translated nearly a dozen plays by the famous English playwright, including the classic “Romeo and Juliet”.
Normand Chaurette also wrote the screenplay for the Quebec adaptation of this play for the cinema, shot by Yves Desgagnés in 2006. The film presented a modern version of this love story, Roméo taking the form of the son of Réal Lamontagne, the leader of a biker clan, while Juliette takes on the features of the only daughter of judge Paul Véronneau, who is trying to convict the thug.
The fascination for Shakespeare’s work that Normand Chaurette maintained also transpired from the writing of “Les Reines”, the first Canadian play produced at the Comédie-Française, in Paris, in 1991.
The author received, in 2004, the title of Officer of the Order of Canada.
