Between 1990 and 2020, HIV claimed 32 million lives according to data from the World Health Organization. Never Wipe Tears Without Gloves follows a group of friends who face this disease at a time when nothing was known regarding AIDS.
On view until April 1 at the Trident, the play is a theatrical adaptation by Véronique Côté of the novel by Swedish writer and playwright Jonas Gardell.
A big production, as the director Alexandre Fecteau specifies, with 12 actors and four musicians on the boards.
“We’ve been working on this for two years. It’s a show that has matured through laboratories. It’s a very good deal with a very beautiful and surprising scenic device, ”he said on Monday, a few hours before the dress rehearsal.
It was in the fall of 2018, following reading the novel Don’t Wipe Tears Without Gloves, that Alexandre Fecteau had the idea of wanting to tackle this work.
“I was hit and I felt shocked. I immediately contacted Anne-Marie Olivier, who at the time was artistic director of Trident. She got the book, she got a shock too and we got into it. I also knew that I was, one day, to work on this theme. The world I live in today has been marked by this epidemic,” he said in a telephone interview.
Alexandre Fecteau specifies that this virus, today, when it is treated, is not fatal.
“It is no longer a death sentence. There are people who are not aware of what happened. It’s important to remember that,” added the director.
Friendship and solidarity
Adapted by Véronique Côté, Never wipe tears without gloves follows a group of friends, all young men, who come from the regions and who arrive in Stockholm, in search of freedom, love and happiness.
“Rasmus and Benjamin will experience love at first sight at a time when the virus is emerging. We discover their friendship and then their solidarity. They will stand in sickness. We lose them one by one. It’s hard, but we love them and we find them beautiful in the way they get through, ”said Alexandre Fecteau, director of the play.
Never Wipe Tears Without Gloves is first and foremost a story of love, friendship, solidarity and loyalty, once morest the backdrop of the existence of HIV.
“It’s a celebration of communities. People who get together and who will take care of them and who won’t let go. That’s what’s beautiful, ”he said.
Twelve actors
The play, in its main roles, stars Olivier Arteau, Maxime Beauregard-Martin and Maxime Robin. There are 12 actors and three musicians, under the direction of pianist Anne-Marie Bernard.
“It’s like film music with recurring themes and arrangements that vary from scene to scene. The quartet, which is very present, intervenes 50 times in the show,” mentioned Alexandre Fecteau.
Never Wipe Tears Without Gloves is for ages 16 and up. The show contains nudity and sexuality and touches on sensitive topics.
