Would You Watch a Play about Hydro Electricity?

How documentary theatre struck a chord in Quebec

- SANDRINE RASTELLO

ON A MONTREAL STAGE one evening last May, Manuelle Légaré sat in silence as a recording of her father speaking to her and her sister played out over the speakers. Then she began her monologue.

"My father is talking to us about his coffee machine but I'm not really listening, even though I am missing out on the opportunity to learn how to make the best espressos in the world," she told her audience, a panel of judges, theatre professionals, and friends and family. "Because in twenty minutes, my father is going to die."

Légaré, one of six finalists in a documentary play pitching competition, had ten minutes to convince the jury that her idea, a play about medical assistance in dying, could become a hit.

She reflected on the closure her father's assisted death failed to give her. She played audio clips featuring experts reflecting on the booming number of procedures in Quebec. She ended her pitch with one last joke from her father, celebrated Quebec comedian Pierre Légaré. And she went on to win the evening's prize worth $10,000, which included support from Porte Parole, the theatre company organizing the event, to develop the show.

The endorsement was as good as it gets in Quebec's vibrant documentary theatre scene. Sitting at the jury table was Porte Parole cofounder Annabel Soutar, who's widely credited as a trailblazer for the genre in the province. Over the past two decades, her company has produced some twenty plays, on themes as diverse as health care, clean water, and genetically modified seeds, inspiring others to follow suit with their own range of topics and approaches.