Robert Lepage calls the cancellation of the exhibition SLAV "a direct blow to artistic freedom"

MONTREAL-Quebec director Robert Lepage on Friday broke his silence on the abrupt cancellation of his controversial program SLAV, calling The Montreal International Jazz Festival on Wednesday canceled the show amid heavy criticism because it was a cultural appropriation because it featured a white woman and songs sung in white composed mainly by black slaves

In a statement issued by his production company Ex Machina, Lepage says that he will leave to others the care of debating the issue of cultural appropriation, he called "an extremely complicated problem" that he could claim to be able to solve.

But the award-winning playwright, who is 40 years old in the theater field, said that he was well placed to talk about one. "For me, what is most appalling is that it's a very good thing. is the intolerant speech heard both on the street and in some media, "said Lepage. "All that led to this cancellation is a blow to artistic freedom."

Lepage says that the theater is based on the principle of someone who plays with someone else or who pretends to be somebody else

. to try to understand them, and in the process, maybe we understand better, "he said." This ancient ritual requires us to borrow, for the duration of a performance, the look, the voice, the Accent and sometimes even the kind of someone else.

"But when we can no longer put ourselves in the place of someone else forbidden to identify with someone else, the theater is deprived of its very nature, it is prevented from performing its primary function and is thus deprived of meaning. "

SLAV One of the most popular jazz festival tickets It was described as "a theatrical odyssey based on songs of slaves" and described by the organizers as a journey "through African-American traditions". songs, cotton fields at construction sites, railways, slaves songs to prison songs. "

Betty Bonifbadi, Montreal singer known for her Oscar-nominated work on the soundtrack of The Triplets of Bell Eville was the main performer in the show.

After widespread criticism and the cancellation of a festival appearance by the American musician Moses Sumney because of SLAV the jazz festival canceled the remaining presentations and apologized

Lepage said that everyone involved in the project understood that they were addressing a sensitive topic and that it was incumbent on them to create a show "with diligence, respect, honesty and integrity" and they chose to stay silent in an "overloaded atmosphere" created by the show.

"As long as the show was played, it spoke for itself and we had nothing to add to the debate, which also allowed us to have a good time. listen to the arguments of those who were opposed to our show being presented, "he said.

Lepage said that the "muzzling" of the show led them to express themselves.

The playwright stated that theater plays tend to evolve. it was wa SLAV since it was canceled after only three concerts

"It is obvious that any new show accompanies from its part blunders, from missed and wrong choices, "said Lepage

. "But unlike a number of other art forms, the theater is not static – it is a living art form, which allows a play to grow. and to constantly evolve, to be perpetually rewritten according to the reactions of the audience and to be refined show after show.

Lepage noted that on his career, he gave shows denouncing the injustices through history to specific cultural groups without including the actors of these groups.

"These shows have been performed all over the world, in front of very diverse audiences, without anyone accusing me of of cultural appropriation nor of racism "Lepage, who also directed the high-tech production of Coriolanus who currently plays at the Stratford Festival, stated that SLAV would still be in running if it was all his own.

"I will ask always have the right to speak about anything and anyone, "Lepage said. "Without exception, none."