Roy Dupuis : here is the tribute that thrilled Quebec !

Towards the end of the gala that everybody praised, Roy Dupuis appeared onstage dressed like Cyrano de Bergerac to pay tribute to the pioneers of Quebec theatre.  He had not had long to rehearse his script, penned by Dominic Champagne.  He was nervous, “quite tense”, he told us.  “I didn’t feel that I had control over everything.  Sometimes tension produces magic, sometimes it’s dangerous.  With three pages of verse it’s impossible to improvise.”

Roy Dupuis was superb.  We have reproduced the actor’s text in full, so that everyone can appreciate the subtlety and finesse of the verse that paid tribute to the architects of our theatre at La Soirée des Masques.

<< A translation of the text can be found in the Awards section along with a video link to the performance itself >>

… There was a lot of spontaneity, humour and emotion during this first Gala des Masques, but also a very theatrical note, obviously, in the tribute to the creators of Quebec theatre.  Roy Dupuis had the task of honouring the founders of our theatre, and let me tell you that he didn’t mince his words in front of the audience at the National Monument on behalf of:  Paul Kingsley, Jean Grimaldi, Mercedes Palomino, Jean-Louis Roux, Paul Buissonneau, Françoise Berd, Marjolaine Hébert, Pierre Gobeil, Paul Hébert, Françoise Graton, Gilles Pelletier, and Jaen-Claude Germain.

The superb text, like the rest of the gala script was written by Dominic Champagne.  After Dupuis’ performance many people had a tear in their eye.  When Andrée Lachapelle came onstage afterwards, she had difficulty containing herself.