On display this fall in Chicago, his play Now will also be adapted for cinema in Mexico in 2024.
Catherine-Anne Topin attended a performance of Right Now on Thursday evening. An American production of his play Now, by the Facility Theater in Chicago, which has been playing to sold-out audiences for six weeks. “The United States is such a difficult market to break into… It’s fun to experience that,” confided the actress and author, contacted by La Presse in the Windy City, where she is staying with her partner, the actor Antoine Bertrand.
“The Chicago theater scene is very vibrant,” says Toupin. It’s the city of Tracey Letts and the Steppenwolf Theater, of David Mamet, of Gary Sinise… It’s a springboard for creative theater. And my play is doing well enough that Facility Theater wants to take the show elsewhere in the United States. »
Indeed, the show received a glowing press review, with an average of four stars given by local critics. “The characters created by the ensemble are exquisitely beautiful and Catherine-Anne Toupin’s script is extremely rigorous […] Right Now, magnificently conceived, is the kind of disconcerting theater that makes Chicago the city richer in drama that disturbs the mind,” illustrates Chicago Stage and Screen.
“Right Now, by Canadian playwright Catherine-Anne Toupin (translated by Chris Campbell), has several strengths: lively dialogue, fascinating characters, genuine humor and a surreal plot,” summarized Chicago On Stage.
Barely arriving in the Illinois metropolis, Catherine-Anne Toupin received confirmation that Now will also be adapted for cinema in Mexico, under the Spanish title Febril. After successfully staging it at the theater in Mexico City in 2014 and 2015, actor and director Hugo Arrevillaga decided to adapt the play for the cinema and received funding for filming in 2024.
“I am not involved in the [film] project, but I read the script which was translated into English for me. It’s excellent ! A free and daring adaptation of my play. Let’s say it’s incredible to know that a team of Mexican artists has been working on my text for years and that it will soon become a film,” says Catherine-Anne Toupin.
“The Mexican team has been working on the project for six years and, after delays caused by the pandemic, the film will finally be made in the fall of 2024. Actress Mayra Batalla [well known in Mexico] plays the role principal,” she continues.
Created at La Licorne by the Théâtre de la Manufacture in 2008, taken over by Duceppe in 2010, Ànow already had a successful international career. Translated into five languages, the play has also been produced in Italy, Belgium, Mexico, Australia and England. “The international success of Ànow is largely due to the Center for Dramatic Authors (CEAD) which organized a translation seminar 18 years ago,” explains the author.
Now is a disturbing modern tale that explores the darkest corners of the human psyche. According to Catherine-Anne Toupin, the play appeals abroad thanks to its mixture of humor and strangeness, its absurd thriller side. “It’s a gift every time I learn that Ànow is being produced elsewhere,” she says.
The international career of his second play exceeds his wildest dreams. “This is all amazing…I’m still pinching myself. But it also shows that Quebec culture shines abroad. I am not the only one. There is a lot of talent in Quebec,” concludes the Boomrang actress and author of La meute.
