When I directed the 'Ring' cycle at the Metropolitan Opera in New York recently, there were people texting all through the show. But theatre isn't a communication device: it's a communion.
— Robert Lepage
I studied as an actor at the theatre conservatoire in Quebec, but by the time I got to my third year, I was more interested in directing. There's more to it than helping actors get round a stage: it's a wonderful way of telling stories.
All of Vegas is false. There's a false Paris, a false Venice, a false Baghdad - in fact, all of the early Vegas aesthetic is Baghdad, which is also the irony. It's 'Aladdin,' the sands, 'One Thousand and One Nights.'
It's obvious that any new show comes with its share of blunders, misfires, and bad choices.
When we were working on 'River Ota' in the '90s, I learnt to read Japanese, which was how I discovered that it incorporates elements of Chinese calligraphy.
The first time someone stood up in front of the fire and told the story while illustrating it with shadows on the walls of the quarry, that was the birth of theater.
A show is good when there is a meeting of time and space, when time and space become irrelevant.
For me, theater will always be very, very much alive, but not necessarily in the theatrical tradition.
I'm not good at doing show business; I'm a theatre person. I don't reveal anything about my life.
Vegas is a testing ground for the human soul. What are our values, especially in a time of crisis? Work with Cirque du Soleil, and you learn that quickly. The former socialist street performers who now throw parties by the pool with Brazilian models, oh yes!
A lot of people hated every moment of my 'Ring.' And a lot of people who had never been to an opera bought subscriptions to the next season.
The first 'Ring' in Bayreuth was about the poetical world, the mythological world.
My father had barely any education. He could hardly write or count. But his great pride was that he was perfectly bilingual. In the household, he entertained this idea that we had to speak both languages.
As a kid, my dad moved us to the upper town, which was in a higher class of people, and we would see the lower town below. Every day, we could see where we came from and where we were now.
I never questioned if I was effeminate or not. That didn't matter in the theatre.
The extraordinary context of 'Coriolanus' is that it's the first republic - it's the first attempt to create a society not ruled by a monarch. It changes the whole system, and you see how the establishment reacts to that, how they have disdain but play along - and you recognize this is the whole American republican system.
My naivety is to assume people will think there's compassion and solidarity in wanting to play someone even though we are not them.
Opera needs a major makeover; the large opera houses are too in thrall to their conservative patrons.
I need to have many things cooking at the same time.
The same critics who destroyed 'Seven Streams' when we opened in Edinburgh - and yes, it was horrible - called it one of the most important shows of the 21st century six years later in London.
Opera is a very stimulating place to work, and I believe it offers the most intense theatrical experience possible.
'The Blue Dragon' uses very filmic language and involves a lot of technology. It is more cinematic than theatrical and was inspired by comic strips and graphic novels.
Theater originated with technology. People forget that.
Of course theater will always be associated intimately to literature, but the themes or whatever have to penetrate you by the senses. Theater is a sensuous experience, and that's its main difference from film or any other dramatic art.
I'm a follower of people not necessarily connected with the theater.
I'm not good at entertainment. I don't give myself to all the interviews, game shows, or talk shows.
In Las Vegas, you confront yourself with your darkest desires, because they're all possible there.
Theatre is different. We can spend two weeks around a table talking about subtext. In opera, there is a score, and people already know their parts. And they move differently. I find all this liberating.
The safety prospects in 'Ka' are the highest in the world.
I always thought I was more of a mommy's boy, because she was charming, talkative, a great storyteller. But as I dug back into my past, I realized I am exactly like my father on so many levels, although I never thought I inherited anything from him.
There is a way to grow old and still have dignity.
I never went through a gender identity problem, but I did with my sexuality.
The thing that's interesting about Trump is that when you read 'Coriolanus,' you'd be tempted to draw parallels. But I don't do that.
In everything I've done, I've always tried to make room for indigenous people, to include them.
Opera should be a place for art forms to meet. I've worked a lot with Peter Gabriel; his music isn't operatic, but he creates big, popular gatherings to which architecture, dance, and music are all invited.
I like doing very small, intimate things in the morning and then, in the afternoon, to be working on something in a big stadium.
I will always demand the right for theatre to talk about anything and anyone. Without exception. None.
When we work on a new theatre piece, we improvise a lot. But it's the opposite in opera, where everything is fixed.
Technology can become a crutch. Sometimes it's there just to hide behind when you're shy of what you're trying to say.
I've always been a little scared of technology, which is why I explore it.
My taste comes from when I was 12 years old and saw Genesis or Laurie Anderson or some performance artist who had put paint on himself. I've seen a lot of theater, but that's not what woke up my taste to become a director; nontheatrical things were much more theatrical than the theater I was seeing.
Nothing is worse than having your dreams come true.
Everybody loves Vegas, and everybody puts it down, especially intellectuals and artists. We have to rub our feet on it, but we're all secretly thrilled to be there.
I was a privileged observer to be there when Celine Dion opened at Caesars Palace and then the second Gulf War started. It was an odd thing to see the impact both events had on Vegas. The place was riding high after Celine, but overnight, once war was declared, it was deserted.
I had been warned by other directors that opera is hell. The singers don't want to do what you want.
If you decide to work with the opera world, chances are there are going to be people who resist that.
I never thought of my father when I was growing up. Truly. He was a strong, silent man who worked hard to support his family.
When I went into the conservatory at 17, then I was able to open up and accept everything about myself and show my feminine side as well as my masculine.
There's not a system better than another. There are some people better than others. I'm not anti-democracy, but there's no real system yet that has proven itself to be the right one.
With the social media phenomenon, where people's opinions inform so much of what we do with our lives, where the number of 'likes' decides what we should program, I cringe.
