Radio-Canada confirmed the news with his friends Alice Ronfard and Michel Tremblay. André Brassard’s career is inseparable from that of Michel Tremblay.
André Brassard, who has had a passion for theater since he was a child, was only 22 when the play The Sisters-in-Law revolutionized Quebec theater in 1968. With Tremblay at his side, he wanted to stage an environment he knew, and as he saw fit.
The collaboration between the two men spanned nearly 40 years: Brassard directed almost all of Tremblay’s plays. He also works with other authors, both the classics, such as Euripides, and the contemporaries, such as Jean Genet and Samuel Beckett.
The director is recognized for his extraordinary understanding of the text.
The theater man will also make four films. In 1974, Once Upon a Time in the East represents Canada at the Cannes Film Festival.
In 1982, he accepted the artistic direction of the French Theater of the National Arts Center in Ottawa. After eight years in this position, he left the Canadian capital, disillusioned by the lack of support for his projects.
Back in Montreal, he then trained a whole generation of actors at the National Theater School.
He also stages himself, notably alongside his favorite performer, Rita Lafontaine, in Again if you allow it.
In 1999, a stroke left him physically impaired. But his wit remains, as shown by his work on Oh good days of Beckett and his work in 2009 on the play A trout for Énerstine Shuswap by Indigenous playwright Tomson Highway. This will be his last production.
The following year, André Brassard made his biography a sort of testament. He talks openly about his past excesses, his drug use and his conviction for kidnapping minors. At the launch, he will take the opportunity to salute those with whom he has shared his passion for theatre.
Michel Tremblay, a found friend
His friend and accomplice, Michel Tremblay, with whom he had been cold for years, told in an interview granted Wednesday to the show All one morningon the airwaves of ICI Première, that the two men had indeed had a personnal issue
in 2005, but that they had never completely cut ties.
I kept sending him my texts. Every week I sent him what I had written during the week and he replied to me. We had contact by email. Lucky we had the email.
During a recent visit to Notre-Dame Hospital, where André Brassard was hospitalized, Michel Tremblay was able to reconnect with his friend in the company of director and actress Denise Filiatrault.
years back. It was a great meeting”,”text”:”It felt like going back more than 50 years. It was a great meeting””>It felt like stepping back over 50 years. It was a great meeting
said Michel Tremblay.
Quebec theater loses a monument. Director André Brassard, considered the architect of contemporary theater in Quebec. He died at age 76. The details of Marieve Bégin.
The playwright, who entrusted André Brassard with directing the vast majority of his works, remembers an extraordinary director, unique in his way of reading and understanding his plays.
« He was the person I knew who had the greatest understanding of the text. »
When he was putting on a play, before he started working with the actors, with the designers, he had to understand everything that was in the play so that he could talk about it with the actors.
relate Michel Tremblay.
: “Ha! My God! We’ve been around the table for a week, talking about the play, dissecting, but we haven’t gotten up yet and we haven’t started setting up”. Then Brassard told them: “No! Before we start setting up, I want us all to do the same show”.”,”text”:”Often there were actors who complained and said: “Ha! My God! We’ve been around the table for a week, talking about the room, breaking it down, but we haven’t gotten up yet and started setting up” . Then Brassard said to them: “No! Before starting the setup, I want us all to do the same show”..””>Often, there were actors who complained who said: “Ha! My God! We’ve been around the table for a week, talking about the play, dissecting it, but we don’t hasn’t risen yet and we haven’t started setting it up”. Then Brassard said to them: “No! Before starting the set-up, I want us all to do the same show”.
To listen to the full interview given by Michel Tremblay to host Patrick Masbourian on the show All one morning, Click here.
A great director
André Brassard’s legacy is considerable both for the history of theater in Quebec and for its future.
For director and playwright René Richard Cyr, André Brassard was a conscience igniter, nothing less.
It had an impact on several generations of artists and gave its letters of nobility to our profession, by empowering us, by awakening us.
Sad breaking news. One of Quebec’s greatest directors, André Brassard, died this evening at the age of 76. Inseparable from the work of Michel Tremblay, the work of André Brassard has marked our modern dramaturgy in a remarkable way, with more than 120 creations. His passing leaves a huge void in the theater community. A look back at his life with Geneviève Asselin.
Yves Desgagnés, for his part, admitted that if he became a director, it was because he had been inspired by the work of André Brassard, who was his teacher.
He underlined the great talent of the man of theater in the direction of actors.
He knew how to put the actor in the foreground
he recalled, showing him how to start from a text until the culmination on stage, adding that he was the cantor of Quebec creation.
He was a great director and a great teacher!