Promoting inclusion and mental well-being | Promouvoir l’inclusion et le mieux-être mental
Inspirations Articles

Unique Theatre Specially Designed for People Living With Visual Impairments - Camille: The Story

Camille: The Story
The English version of the immersive, multisensory show Camille: le récit. ​A show created by Audrey-Anne Bouchard in collaboration with Joseph Browne, Marijoe Foucher, Laurence Gagnon Lefebvre, Laurie-Anne Langis, and Marc-André Lapointe.
Montreal - Wednesday, June 8, 2022

Director Audrey-Anne Bouchard and her team of collaborators  will present Camille: The Story in English for the very first time, at the Segal Centre from June 21 to July 3. The pioneering multi-sensorial theatrical experience (Camille : un rendez-vous au-delà du visuel) was a smash hit with audiences when it was first performed in French at MAI (Montréal, arts interculturels) in September 2019.

Camille: The Story is an immersive performance about the end of a friendship.  Designed to engage all of your senses but sight, this revised version of the show Camille: un rendez-vous au-delà du visuel offers a sensory experience that is accessible to all audience members, whether they are people who are blind, partially-sighted or sighted

This unusual work, specially designed for people living with visual impairments, offers a completely new sensory encounter with dance and theatre. Audience members are invited to enter the performance space, to sit at the centre of the set, as the story unfolds. The small capacity of six audience members per performance promises an intimate, unique, and multi-sensory experience.

All COVID-19 sanitary measures are respected throughout the performance. Distancing is maintained between audience members and performers, and sets are disinfected between uses. 

"This project was born from a need to create a show that would be accessible to audiences who have their sense of vision as well as to those living with a visual impairment,” said   Bouchard, who is visually impaired.    “The show is interactive: audience members connect with their inner-dialogue, we connect with them through multisensorial interactions. The idea came to me because I myself have a visual impairment, Stargardt’s disease.” 

Please see my video interview with Audrey-Anne:

 

This innovative piece is a collective creation developed by   Bouchard in collaboration with Joseph Brown, Marijoe Foucher, Laurence Gagnon Lefebvre, Laurie-Anne Langis and Marc-André Lapointe.

The work is entirely accessible to people who are blind and to all audiences (12 years old and older). Spectators using mobility aids also are welcome. Audience members who are sighted and partially-sighted will be able to immerse themselves in this multi-sensorial revolutionary experience by wearing a blindfold for the entirety of the performance.

Choreographers and Dancers, Laurie-Anne Langis and Marijoe Foucher, who are also massage therapists took inspiration in guiding techniques for people who are blind or partially-sighted to develop the choreography of the piece that also explores the sonic potential of the human body. Joining Audrey-Anne Bouchard as Co-Author of the text,  Actor and Author Marc-André Lapointe also plays the lead role of Pierre in this beautiful translation by Alexis Diamond. Set Designers Laurence Gagnon Lefebvre and Diana Uribe with Sound Designers Joseph Browne and Rob Denton took on the enormous task of conceptualizing the physical and auditory environments of the show, while factoring in that the set would be heard, smelled and felt rather than seen. Actors Sarah Leblanc-Gosselin, Alexandra Laferrière, Peter Farbridge and Joan Wiecha join the team for this new English production

Visit the project website: www.english-audeladuvisuel.com

WHEN:

  • Tuesday, June 21: 6 pm & 8 pm
  • Wednesday, June 22: 6 pm & 8 pm
  • Thursday, June 23: 3 pm, 6 pm & 8 pm
  • Saturday, June 25: 1 pm, 3:30 pm & 7 pm
  • Sunday, June 26: 1:30 pm & 4 pm
  • Tuesday, June 28: 6 pm & 8 pm
  • Wednesday, June 29: 6 pm & 8 pm
  • Thursday, June 30: 3 pm, 6 pm & 8 pm
  • Saturday, July 2: 1 pm, 3:30 pm & 7 pm
  • Sunday, July 3: 1:30 pm & 4 pm

WHERE:

Segal Centre
5170 Chem. de la Côte-Sainte-Catherine, H3W 1M7

BOX OFFICE:

www.segalcentre.org/en/box-office

514-739-7944