ROBERT LEPAGE



Through his use of different kinds of technologically advanced media with a high "added value" such as photography, film or video, Robert Lepage has always been associated with new technology. In fact, even when he has made only a limited physical use of such media, it has been possible to detect their influence in his theatrical approach.

Robert Lepage was born in 1957 in Québec City. Educated at the Conservatoire d’Art Dramatique in Québec and Paris, in 1981 he joined the Téâtre Répère, a Québec City theatre company where, till 1990, he was to make his name as one of the major creative forces of his country with works such as Les Rois Mangent (1982), En Attendant (1982), Carmen (1983), Dieu Et L’amour Complexe (1983), Solange Passe (1984), Circulations (1984).

It was in 1985, however, with the Dragon’s Trilogy, that his work was to be internationally recognized. After working as the artistic director of the Ottawa National Arts Centre’s Téâtre Français, in 1993 he founded the company Ex Machina, a multidisciplinary creation company. Already the first production Hiroshima – The Seven Streams Of The River Ota (1994) won several prizes. In 1995 he created a new solo play, Elsinor, consisting of excerpts from Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

It was in 1997 that La Caserne, a multidisciplinary production centre, was opened in Québec City with Robert Lepage as director. In their new workspace, he and his team created Geometry of Miracles (1998), Zulu Time (1999) and his latest solo piece, the Far Side of the Moon (2000). Lepage proved to be as gifted in opera as he was in theatre with Bluebeards Castle and Erwartung for the Canadian Opera Company as well as with The Damnation of Faust (1999/2001).

The Busker's Opera was presented at the Montreal High Lights Festival in February 2004. For the second time, Robert Lepage worked with the robotics specialist Louis-Philippe Demers. The resulting “jaquemart” (jackdow), directed by Robert Lepage, was commissioned by Lille 2004 - European Capital of Culture.

His most recent production La Celestina (by Fernando de Rojas) performed in the Spanish language, was presented in September 2004 and is currently touring in Spain and Portugal. He is also working on various new productions. His next one-man show, the Andersen Project will be premiered in February 2005 in Québec. Along with Maestro Lorin Maazel, he is also working on an opera based on George Orwell’s novel, 1984 (premiere in May 2005 in London).