Nouveau Monde, Théâtre du

Nouveau Monde, Théâtre du, French-Canadian company founded in Montreal in 1951 by a group of actors, under Jean Gascon, who had been associated with Father Émile Legault's Compagnons de Saint-Laurent. They opened with L'Avare by Molière, the author of most of their early successes. A trio of his farces, played in the style of the commedia dell'arte, was an outstanding success at the Théâtre des Nations in Paris in 1955, and brought the new company an international reputation. In the following year Gascon and several of his companions joined the company at the Stratford (Ontario) Festival theatre to play the French roles in Henry V. Although for over 20 years the group had no permanent home, it evolved into a civic repertory theatre with high standards, presenting an international repertoire varied with a new Canadian play each season; one of its most successful authors was Marcel Dubé. The company suffered a severe setback when in 1963 fire destroyed their offices, records, and rehearsal space, and again in 1966 when the Orpheum cinema, which they had rented in 1957, was scheduled for demolition. They moved in 1967 to the Port-Royal in the new Place des Arts complex. Ill at ease, however, in these lavish surroundings, they found a permanent home in 1972 at the Théâtre de la Comédie-Canadienne, left vacant by the departure of Gratien Gélinas and his company. An immediate innovation there was the introduction of Lunch-Time Theatre (Théâtre-midi), and among the new plays produced was the controversial Les Fées ont soif (The Fairies are Thirsty, 1978) by Denise Boucher, an attack on male chauvinism and the restraints imposed on women by the Catholic Church which provoked accusations of blasphemy and resulted in subsidies being withheld by the civic authorities. The company toured abroad in 1965 and 1971 and from 1965 to 1975 also supported Les Jeunes Comédiens, a touring company of young actors which began as a graduation class from the National Theatre School of Canada. Crippling deficits and protracted labour disputes forced the company to cancel their 1984–5 season and sell their theatre; but their fortunes rose again with strong and imaginative productions of Othello (1986), A Midsummer Night's Dream (1988), and Brecht's Galileo (1989).