Le Cid

In this revisiting of Corneille’s Le Cid, the story of our present-day overlords – not merely power struggles or moral precepts – are shown to still hold sway in a form of modern-day serfdom that manipulates every last element of contemporary “peasant” life. Intransigent powers-that-be – with their origins in the distant past – hold the reigns over economic structures that control society. These contemporary kings influence the way we think to such an extent that they can impose order and make counterfeit language. Decontextualizing the 17th-century French play, author and stage director Gabriel Plante takes an unexpected tack on the story of Le Cid. Corneille’s classic lines become a sonic stream that infuses scenic reality with a sense of unease. Le Cid has benefited from a partnership with the National Theatre School of Canada. Le Cid was made possible thanks to the support of the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Conseil des arts de Montréal and Secrétariat du Québec aux relations canadiennes.