Theatrical Collisions in Laurence Dauphinais’s Cyclorama

Abstract

In this article, the author reviews Cyclorama, the latest theatrical production by Montreal-based multidisciplinary creator Laurence Dauphinais, co-produced by the anglophone Centaur Theatre and the francophone Théatre d’aujourd’hui. The author situates Dauphinais’s groundbreaking bilingual play, which the latter conceives of as “a bilingual documentary pilgrimage” of the linguistically divided solitudes of Montreal theatre, within a larger linguistic culture of theatre-going and theatre-making in Quebec. Arguing that Dauphinasis’s project derives its energetic charge from its break with a distinctly Québécois way of living, performing, and spectating, the author reflects on the different kinds of theatrical collisions enacted by Cyclorama.