Quebec Theatre Criticism: A 2016 Portrait

In Canadian Theatre Review 163, Karen Fricker discussed how the emergence of new media has reshaped the exercise of cultural criticism in Canada, and La Belle Province is no exception. I here offer a snapshot of the current situation in Quebec, which reveals that since Gilbert David undertook the same exercise in 1988 (“Notes”; in Canadian Theatre Review 57), relatively little has changed.¹

The growth in virtual coverage, with the arrival of websites such as MonThéâtre.qc.ca (2001), pieuvre.ca (2009), and La bible urbaine (2010), was likely a contributing factor to the demise of the four Montreal-based cultural weeklies in the course of a few years; all that remains of these is Voir, which, after seeing four of its six regional editions (Mauricie, Estrie, Saguenay, and GatineauOttawa) disappear, in January 2016 became a monthly magazine for the Montreal and Quebec City regions. Editor-in-Chief Simon Jodoin described its first monthly print issue as “a little bit of resistance” against the cultural trend toward exclusively online coverage.

Other than the price, there is little difference between Voir (a free publication) and Jeu, the only periodical dedicated to theatre in Quebec. Jeu underwent plastic surgery in 2014 to coincide with its 150th issue, a move clearly intended to attract a broader audience. To explain the makeover, Editor-in-Chief Christian Saint-Pierre declared that “the articles, without losing any of their rigour, are shorter than before,” and that “the format of the magazine now reflects, better than ever before, the dynamism of its content and the passion of those who make it.” More beautiful than ever, Jeu is now branded, greeting its readers (as does Voir) with an original photograph of an artist on the front cover and featuring an extremely rigid layout.

Voir and Jeu also have in common the complete withdrawal of review coverage from their pages. This happened gradually at Voir over nearly a decade, while Jeu started to post reviews online in October 2011 and has been doing so exclusively since that 150th issue. This separation of feature articles (in the print version) and critiques of shows (on the web platform) certainly invites critical scrutiny;² only time will tell if such a strategy is effective. In the meantime, it’s important to underline that until very recently Voir’s sections “Scène” and “Cinéma” (Stage and Screen) were well reported, as its editor, Philippe Couture, consistently applied critical rigour to productions and the complex relations that shape the milieu (Couture left Voir in August 2016, and it not clear yet what impact this will have on “Scène” and “Cinéma” coverage). As for Jeu, the shows are treated à la pièce. The quality of critiques varies with the large range of its collaborators; a few stand out, while many do not, getting the job done with no real signature—just like many of our institutional theatre companies.

An inconsistent level of writing also characterizes Le Devoir, whose motto is “Libre de penser” (Free to think). Lately, with, for instance, its “Cahiers de la rentrée culturelle” (special sections for the opening of the cultural season), the leading intellectual daily seems to be suffering from the same illness as Radio-Canada: the aunty-ization of some of its information.³ I must add a caveat, however, that this trend did not apply to Alexandre Cadieux, who until early autumn 2016 wrote a very intelligent weekly column for Le Devoir, and continues to contribute articles about theatre to that publication.

Le Journal de Montréal relies on an aviation specialist, Louise Bourbonnais, for its theatre reviews. Although she is slowly improving—which is certainly not always the case in such situations—her sometimes hilarious reviews land in the Le Journal de Québec too, setting the tone for the Québecor family.⁴ In Quebec City, the respected critic Jean St-Hilaire retired in 2009 after nearly a quarter of a century at Le Soleil, which remains the main media outlet in the capital for comment on theatre activity; Geneviève Bouchard is its current principal critic. Theatre in the Ottawa-Gatineau...