Jimmy, créature de rêve

Marie Brassard / Infrarouge

February 7, 8 p.m.

Salle Multi

Theatre

Ages 14 and up

70 minutes

Description

In the 1950s, Jimmy, a gay hairdresser, is born in the dream of a homophobic American general. It is in his barbershop, in the heart of New York City, that he meets Mitchell, a soldier with whom he falls in love. At the very moment he is about to kiss the man he loves for the first time, the heart of the dreaming general stops beating. Jimmy then remains suspended in that precise moment, overwhelmed by a feeling of pure bliss. Fifty years later, time starts moving again and Jimmy comes back to life—only to find himself, to his great despair, trapped in the dreams of a Montreal actress who has fallen violently in love with him. Within the actress’s baroque, erotic, and absurd dreams, his face and body transform, turning him into a strange creature of uncertain gender. His deepest desire is to break free from the logic of the dreams that keep him captive, so that he may finally reunite with his lost love.

Biography

Marie Brassard is an actor, writer, and director. In 2001, after fifteen years of working alongside Robert Lepage, she began her solo career by founding her own production company, Infrarouge, where she serves as artistic director. Since then, in close collaboration with musicians and visual artists, she has created surreal stage works where video, light, and sound play a central role. Interweaving voices and music, traversing multiple levels of reality, her productions draw us into a world where the relationship between human beings and technology becomes intimate. Her distinctive artistic language has made her a singular voice in contemporary theatre.

Her plays have been presented in numerous cities across twenty-five countries in the Americas and Europe, as well as in Japan, China, and Australia. Presented last year at the Macao Arts Festival, her show La fureur de ce que je pense—a collage of texts by Nelly Arcan created in 2013—continues to tour.

During the pandemic, she directed a Japanese team remotely in rehearsals and filming in Tokyo, Kinosaki, and Toyooka, near the Sea of Japan. This work, integrated into the production Violence, has since been presented in Montreal, Ottawa, Athens, and Guadalajara.

Marie was named to the Ordre des arts et des lettres du Québec in 2016. In 2022, she received the Siminovitch Prize, Canada’s most prestigious theatre award, recognizing the innovative nature of her directorial work.

**Please note that the doors will close at the start of the performance and no latecomers will be admitted.**

Credits

An Infrarouge creation in coproduction with the Festival de théâtre des Amériques

Text, direction, and performance: Marie Brassard

Set design and props: Simon Guilbault

Lighting: Eric Fauque

Sound consulting and soundtrack production: Michel F. Côté

Scenography assistant: Catherine Chagnon

Set construction: Acmé Services Scéniques

Bird creation: Atelier des Griffons

Hairstyling: Matthieu Tessier

Sound management: Frédéric Auger

Technical direction and lighting management: Romane Bocquet (to be confirmed)

Production management: Anne McDougall

Special thanks to Richard Desrochers, Jean Christian Gagnon, Marie-Hélène Falcon, and Michel Bernatchez

The song Love Hurts, performed by Nazareth, was composed by Boudleaux Bryant.

In its final version, Jimmy, Créature de rêve premiered as part of the Festival de théâtre des Amériques (now FTA) in June 2001.

Refunds

No refunds