Artist Robert Lepage in Quebec City April 9, 2008.MATHIEU BELANGER
A pair of works by theatrical star Robert Lepage, The Anderson Project and Eonnagata, will make their Toronto debuts this fall, the Canadian Stage Company and the Sony Centre for the Performing Arts jointly announced today.
In 2005, Denmark commissioned Lepage and his production company, Ex Machina, to create The Andersen Project. The result was a technologically ambitious one-man show performed by Yves Jacques that weaves Hans Christian Andersen's children's fables around an exploration of themes ranging from modernism to sexual identity.
It has appeared in several other Canadian cities and around the world, and now comes to CanStage's Bluma Appel Theatre from Oct. 21 to 30 as part of the company's 2010-2011 season. The full programme will be announced next week.
Less than a month later, the Sony Centre will host Eonnagata, which blends dance and theatre to tell the tale of Charles de Beaumont, Chevalier d'Éon, the 18th-century cross-dressing spy, writer and diplomat. The blurring of sexes is compounded by elements that draw on the kabuki tradition of having men play women's roles, and Lepage himself performs in the show alongside a celebrated pair: French ballerina Sylvie Guillem and British choreographer Russel Maliphant. Fashion giant Alexander McQueen, who recently committed suicide, designed lush costumes.
Since opening in London last year, Eonnagata has travelled to France, Germany and Spain, and will be a major feature for the revitalized Sony Centre, which is scheduled to reopen in October after sitting closed for renovations since July, 2008.