Breaking down language barriers with Montreal theatre production ‘Still Life’

With Montreal’s bilingual cultural scene, its essential to have productions that speak to all communities.

The theatre production Still Life, is helping to break down French and English barriers and have important conversations about societal expectations and mental health.

“This play is about a woman in her 30s who’s going through a panic attack or going through a series of panic attacks. It’s looking at the state of women in society right now in terms of the vast number of young women who are going through panic attacks,” said Emma Tibaldo, director of Still Life.

“There hasn’t been very much research done on why this is affecting young women in particular. So it’s kind of a window into what a panic attack state of being is and her relationship to her family, her friends, and her professional life. It takes us through a series of vignettes that lead us to the end of the play, where there is a sense of hope and a sense of forward motion,” she adds.

Cara Rebecca is the lead for the play, playing a character called the 30-year-old.

“This process has been an interesting one, first and foremost because she’s not named. The first thing that I do when I meet any character is try to understand them as best as possible. And so there’s a number of ways to do that, but of course you learn about them and you mine the text. Here, some of the specifics are left to be filled in, including her name. It’s been interesting, and I noticed that I was bringing a lot more of perhaps myself from my own experience than in other characters because it was me, just the 30-year-old,” she said.

“Some of the experiences of anxiety, depression, and relationship dynamics were informed a lot by my own world, and then I had to shift and play with the expansion and limitation of what served the text. There’s a lot more experimentation in this process, perhaps, than in some others,” she added.

The production is based Marie-Ève Milot and Marie-Claude St-Laurent’s 2018 French-language play Chienne(s) – now translated into English. And It’s presented in English – with French surtitles to ensure that everyone can enjoy the experience.

“When we get to take a text that was originally imagined in one language, one culture, and then translate it with all of the interpretation that translation involves, and then again workshop that, making it serve and adjust to not only a new language but the culture and the isms of that culture, it is such a beautiful act of communication,” said Rebecca.

Several themes are explored throughout the play, including anxiety, depression, and the societal and internal pressures women face in their daily lives.

“We’re in a phase, I think an evolutionary phase for women in particular, where the demands of living in this world are so great that we are struggling with keeping our sense of mental health. This play kind of looks at a woman in Quebec society who’s coming to the age of 30 and finds herself unable to fulfill her dreams or unable to move forward; she’s stuck and doesn’t understand why. I think this is happening to a huge number of women, and mental health, especially after the pandemic, is top of mind, and we haven’t been dealing with it historically,” said Tibaldo.

“Woman’s mental health has not been dealt with historically by the medical system or by psychology in general. So actually pointing that out right now and thinking about it, and allowing ourselves to have the space and time to consider what that means, is essential, especially moving forward into a world that’s ever more about technology and about being present on social media and what that is doing to our mental health,” she adds.

“I think being able to talk about it, knowing that it exists, knowing that a lot of people are going through the same thing, allows us to open up and maybe gives us a chance of moving forward in a healthy way. If I had been 30 in the audience and saw this play, it would have made a huge difference, and I’m hoping that is true for those coming to see the play now.”

Opening night is October 28 at La Chapelle, with shows running until November 9th.

“La Chapelle is quite special because it’s one of the few that has a bilingual audience, and they come here to see all sorts of stuff—dance, puppetry, theater, even English theater—so they’re quite open and versatile,” said Lyne Paquette, artistic and executive director of Talisman Theatre.

“The future of bilingual theater I hope will be huge because really there is such a large theater going population on both sides and can only be bolstered by adding and collaborating between the two,” said Rebecca.