A Shared Passion: Theatre

He burst on our screens four years ago, and now the number one actor in Quebec is returning to the theatre. Upon his return, he reunited with a great accomplice, the producer Brigitte Haentjens, artistic director of the NCT, well known for her risk-taking. When an actor meets his double, and vice versa…

Theatre Denise-Pelletier, Tuesday, 7:00 p.m. Roy Dupuis smokes Camel after Camel. He speaks little, fidgets a lot, with an abstracted air. Brigitte Haentjens lights up. She speaks of Roy, of his unerring inner nature that she recognized instinctively, of their shared love for the theatre. Roy assents, delicately, shyly. And suddenly, the unexpected occurs. Roy Dupuis comes out of his shell and spills his guts, talking about his craft, of his roles and his fears as an actor.

Forget the beautiful Ovila of Filles de Caleb, or the young rent boy in Being at Home with Claude, and imagine that you are at the Theatre Denise-Pelletier, this Tuesday at 7:00 p.m....you slip into the conversation between Roy and Brigitte, and you share their knowing glances.

Brigitte: We have known each other for eight years.
Roy: That long?
Brigitte: Seven or eight years, I forget. It's been quite a while, in any case. The first time we worked together, it was for Le Chien [The Dog], a play by Jean-Marc Dalpé…

There they go…Brigitte talks about that production; they played in Montreal, in French, and in Toronto, in English…then she changes track.

Brigitte: And before--this is the famous story...

And she recounts with a bit of mystery, how, in effect, everything started with a meeting at the Theatre du Nouvel Ontario at Sudbury, when she was the artistic director there. At that time, she was thinking of producing Le Chien, but it was still a vague project. Then one day, in open rehearsal, she saw enter the room a great guy, fresh from the National Theatre School, coming to see his girlfriend. She did not know he was an actor; she had never heard of him. No one had ever heard of Roy Dupuis until that moment...

Brigitte: When I saw him, I said to Jean-Marc Dalpé: "That guy there, it's Jay, the character of the Dog." I said it like that, out of instinct. Jean-Marc, being reasonable, said to me, "Look, Brigitte, you cannot say that, you don't know even who he is. He isn't even an actor." Once instinct is squashed in its impulse, reason falls into line. So I said, "Yes, that's true..." Then I began to meet people to try to find someone to play the part of Jay. But I always had Roy in my head. And then one day, Roy and I met here in Montreal, at a friend's house. I asked him if he would like to read a bit of the play.

With shining eyes, Brigitte adds that the most fascinating part of the story is they both realized then that there were many links between Jay's character and Roy, all kinds of profound connections. And with that, a little flame suddenly lit in the eyes of Roy.

Roy: Jay for me, is a sort of Jack Kerouac, a go-getter, a traveler, a loner, and at the same time is very sensitive and profound. It was an important role in my carrier, essential to me, quite simply.
Brigitte: I think what initially struck me about Roy, it is the interior pain beneath the calm exterior. It is maybe that there is more in common between Jay and Roy...enthusiasm, energy, and this small twisted cord that hurts inside. An actor who doesn’t have this fiber cannot be an actor. I think that among people who glow on screen or stage, they have this abrasion, inside, secret...

Brigitte stops, looking at Roy. Silence. And she sets out again, saying in a breath that then, in 1990, they did Un oiseux vivant dans la gueule together, a play by Jeanne-Mance Delisle.

Brigitte A play about women, difficult and foul-mouthed...
Roy: ...A play that goes very far in the intimacy of a woman, very far in crudeness, too. It was my last appearance on stage. It was the last time that I played in the theatre, and therefore Brigitte did the staging...

The two are very fond of each other, it is clear. They especially are fond of taking risks together.

Brigitte: I always want to work with Roy, that’s for sure. The shows that we do togther are like adventures. It is always dangerous...So, when I got my hands on True West by Sam Shepard, I said to myself that this play was for us, for Roy and me.

There they cut each other off, beginning to talk ardently about the play that opens on January 18 at the Theatre Denise-Pelletier.

Brigitte: It is a story of two brothers, one who is a screenwriter in Hollywood and the other who...
Roy: ...lives in the desert...
Brigitte: ...who is a nomad, who races dogs...These two brothers are complete adversaries, they find themselves their mother’s house, and they have a love-hate relationship...Little by little, a kind of slip happens in the play--the Hollywood screenwriter starts to hit bottom and the other brother begins to write a story, a film script.
Roy: It’s not really what is told that is important, it is rather how it is told...
Brigitte: The brothers are two peas in a pod. They are complementary. There are like two sides of the same person: one is rational, Austin; the other more instinctive, Lee...
Roy: Lee, he is the provocateur side, unbridled. He is close to adventure and does not ask questions of life. He goes where life takes him; he drops everything when she beckons him…He is instinctive, yes.

Instinctive: the magic word arises constantly througout the course of the interview, from Brigitte's mouth, from Roy's.

Roy: Lee, I do not know why I love this character. Nor why I love this play, I cannot say. But I love it. I adore it. I adore the style, the writing. The message that is conveyed, I do not know, save that I know it speaks to me. It says to me...it is very close to life, life as it is. There is no answer, just as there is no answer in life. And I think it is necessary to approach a character in that way. It is necessary to let the character live. There cannot be limits.
Brigitte: Me, I am like Roy, I do not know everything the play is trying to say...
Roy: It is not a lighthearted piece...
Brigitte: No, it’s not. Me too, there is something profound that touches me in this play. And in making this play, we discover what touches us. But one does not know it before. And that is what makes it magnificent…Me, I think my sense is physical and carnal. I feel things through the body. It is because I am this way that I love to work with people like Roy...as a director and producer, I think it’s my role to always be hearing that connection with the text so that everyone—actors, designers—works for the same goal. It is important to always be close to the delivery in question…It certainly helps that I have acted before. I know what is required. I am capable of acting, but I am not an actress, and I have no desire to be one. I am not narcissistic enough to be an actress...

Then, Brigitte relents.

Brigitte: I do not have enough narcissism nor do I have enough humility. Because it is necessary to have both. Me, I have no humility. I am incapable of being vulnerable on stage.

And what about Roy, his vulnerability on stage or during a shoot? In order to cross from one character to another?

Roy: It's instinct. I do not have a particular method for my roles. It comes all at once. I nourish myself, I let things come. To cross from one role to another--I do not know how I do it. It is the role itself that offers itself to me. I take it, and I let it enter tranquilly. And the good thing about doing theatre is that one has time to try things out. There is someone to tell you if something works or not. There are rehearsals. One has time to take in the text, to explore it, to look for what is inside, in the minor details. Television is different…and cinema as well. You work alone. It is necessary that you trust yourself, that you have confidence in yourself and that you take risks.

To Be Continued....(Part II coming soon!)