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25 YEARS OF EMERGING ARTISTS

A unique opportunity to see the stars of tomorrow take the stage-at appreciably affordable prices!

N E L L I G A N
d'ANDRÉ GAGNON & MICHEL TREMBLAY.

S Y N O P S I S

Nelligan tells the story of a precocious talent, a poet who clashed with the indifference of a society. The narrative thread contrasts the old and weak poet Nelligan with his young and talented—though still unhappy and misunderstood—self, searching for love. By flipping open the pages of his past, Émile Nelligan allows us to experience his troubling destiny in the early part of the last century and over the course of his fall in a context of confrontation: a shattered family, an absent anglophone father opposed to the poetic path chosen by his son, a protective and loving francophone mother powerless before the unfolding drama. While the author of Le Vaisseau d’or and La Romance du vin did have some who supported his work, most notably the journalist Françoise, Father Eugène Seers, and his friends and poets Charles Gill and Arthur de Bussières, it was, unfortunately, not enough… Believed to be insane, Nelligan ended his days in an asylum.

Opera: Nelligan by André Gagnon
Libretto: Michel Tremblay
Genre: Romantic opera (drama)
Structure: Two acts
Language: French with English and French surtitles
Premiere: Montreal, Place des Arts, February 24, 1990
Production: new production / version for 2 pianos and cello (arr. Anthony Rozankovic) in collaboration with the National Theatre School of Canada and the Monument-National.
Location: Monument-National, 1182, Saint-Laurent Blvd, Montreal, QC, H2X 2S5