Mani Soleymanlou wants to “deconstruct the fourth wall”. To explore, to experiment. The artist and his team set up for three weeks at La Chapelle Scènes contemporains with three extraordinary events: a Spanish-language cover of his first hit “UN”, combined with a Mexican dance show, then an evening with a mix of jazz and theater and finally philosophical Workshops for children and their parents.
“La Chapelle is a wonderful place to create and take risks,” summarizes the actor, author, director and screenwriter, whom he met last week on the sidelines of a rehearsal.
We catch him between commitments because he has a busy schedule, Mani Soleymanlou: We recently saw him in Before the Crash (he plays Patrick), That’s the Way I Love You (Coco) and Do you Hear Me (Franck). We’ve also seen him on stage, on the big screen and at the National Arts Center in Ottawa, where he has been artistic director for two years.
The artist wants to “shake the cage” and “try new things” in order to “reach the audience.” “In our post-pandemic world, events are more important than ever,” he says.
“A French Iranian from Quebec…”
Mani Soleymanlou returns to his roots in La Chapelle, where his first success, UN, was born a dozen years ago. This very personal show, which tells the ups and downs of an Iranian forced into exile, has been shown more than 200 times in Quebec and elsewhere in the world: the author tells of his arrival in France as a child, moving with his family into the French-speaking communities Toronto and Ottawa, followed by installation in Montreal.
The piece has echoes of Elvis Gratton, this “Québécois Canadian, French Canadian, French North American” (and so on). “In France I was Iranian. In Toronto I was an Iranian Frenchman for a while, then a Canadian who quickly became Canadian. In Ottawa I was a Torontonian-French-Iranian. In Montreal, I’m a Toronto native of Arab-Iranian descent who has lived in France and Ottawa… and today people say to me, ‘Hey, my man, you’re from Quebec!’ I don’t know anymore,” says Mani Soleymanlou in the UN.
Friday and Saturday the play will be performed for the first time by an actor other than Soleymanlou – in Spanish by Victor Andrés Trelles Turgeon, also well known to Quebec audiences. The two have been good friends since their high school studies in French at the Étienne Brûlé School in Toronto. They also attended the National Theater School and the University of Ottawa together.
“I have the impression that the Spanish-speaking public of Montreal will identify with this Iranian arriving in Quebec. “Mani is talking about something very personal, but it is the experience of every immigrant,” says Victor Trelles.
The actor of Peruvian origin, who came to Canada when he was a preschooler, also questions his identity. “All my life I have identified as Peruvian. After traveling alone to Peru for two months, I came back and told myself that I was neither Peruvian, Quebecois, nor Canadian. I don’t know what I am. »
Diversity on screen
Mani Soleymanlou today defines himself as a “Montrealer”. A little more than ten years after founding UN, he’s excited to see more diversity on screens and stages in Quebec.
“I can now play a Patrick or a Michel. More and more actors whose names come from elsewhere appear in the credits. They no longer just play migrants. You can play a doctor named Abdoul, but it’s the role of a doctor, not a migrant. Of course there is still a long way to go, but there has been a major change in direction over the last decade. »
Despite these big steps, Mani Soleymanlou regrets the “instrumentalization” of newcomers in the last election campaign. “I no longer consider myself an immigrant, but every election I am reminded of where I come from and that I am not from here. »
Jazz and chatter
This may all seem very dramatic, but the artist has the ability to make everyone laugh and think with his stories about changing identities. The spectators of La Chapelle get their money’s worth: in the second part of UNO there is a cumbia show, a Mexican dance that was created from the combination of African drums and the indigenous flute. A way to expand the audience for the evening.
On November 9th, 10th and 11th, the artist will also offer Zamân for the first time or we have the same time as us, presented with Valaire, who will spice up the evening with jazz notes. Mani Soleymanlou will chat with the public. It will be neither cabaret nor stand-up, but a show that is similar to an improvisation but still contains a script.
Finally, on the mornings of November 4th and 11th, philosophical workshops on the topic of memory and memory are on the program. Led by Léa C. Brillant and Eveline Mailhot-Paquette, children ages 9 to 12 and their parents reflect on big existential questions: “Are memories valuable?” Do they expand reality? Can we share them? Should some be deleted? »
UNO and Sabor de my heart
Mani Soleymanlou and his orange team drowned. At the Theater La Chapelle, October 27th and 28th.