The Théâtre des Confettis, founded in Québec City in 1977, grew out of an artistic partnership cultivated by two actresses, Hélène Blanchard and Judith Savard, and a stage designer, Réal Sasseville. To date, the company has created thirty one shows and one audio performance (five quadraphonic tales). Ten of them have been translated in English, two have been translated in Spanish and another one in Portuguese; three have been put on by other Canadian companies and seven have been published as texts. Fifteen of these productions, or the artists associated with them, have been honoured by various award programs either as finalists or as prize winners. Over the years, the Théâtre des Confettis has earned an enviable reputation. The company is known for its audacious choices and its significant contribution to the development of the dramatic arts for children and young people.
APPROACH
From the time of its founding, the Théâtre des Confettis has always placed children at the centre of its work, valuing their talent for subversion, their dreamy, poetic, heartfelt and sometimes crazy reactions, their laughter and their tears, and their fresh, curious and wide-awake approach. At each stage in the creative process, childhood, seen in a non-condescending, non-patronizing way, is a constant reference point and focus.
Although it is possible to find certain common threads running through the company’s productions, its artistic approach is neither linear nor tied to any specific creative process. The company’s personality is expressed in many different ways by bringing about new encounters or building on shared feelings, responding to flights of fancy or realizing old dreams, creating something in the heat of the moment or slowly over time, reaching audiences, here and further afield.
OPENING UP NEW HORIZONS
In seeking artistic collaboration, the Théâtre des Confettis knows no geographical or artistic boundaries. The company’s work may involve artists from other places and sometimes even from other disciplines, artists who have long experience or who are just starting out, and artists who are well-known in children’s theatre or who have always been associated with adult theatre. Through such collaboration with playwrights, designers and actors from a wide range of backgrounds, the company has been able to develop and explore new avenues in the world of young people’s theatre.