French rock star Bertrand Cantat sits in the dock in Vilnius' courthouse on the opening day of his trial, 16 March 2004. Cantat is charged with murdering his girlfriend, movie star Marie Trintingant, who died following a quarrel in a hotel here last year.ERIC FEFERBERG / AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Montreal's Théâtre du Nouveau Monde announced its 60th anniversary season to more controversy than celebration Monday, after it was revealed that a convicted killer will play a role in what is to be the dramatic centrepiece of the season.
Bertrand Cantat, the former lead singer of French rock band Noir Désir, will compose music for and perform in Des Femmes, acclaimed director and playwright Wajdi Mouawad's new production of three tragedies by Sophocles.
In 2003, Cantat was sentenced to eight years in prison for fatally beating his partner, film actress Marie Trintignant, in a Lithuanian hotel room. Since his parole in 2007, his gradual re-emergence on the artistic scene has been the subject of heated debate in France.
"We are aware that Bernard Cantat is a controversial figure," TNM artistic director Lorraine Pintal told La Presse, "but we believe that he has paid for what he did."
Des Femmes will premiere this summer at the Festival d'Avignon in France and is also a co-production with the French theatre at the National Arts Centre, where Mouawad is artistic director.
In May and June 2012, the three plays of in trilogy - Women of Trachis, Antigone and Electra - will be presented separately well as on the weekends in five-and-a-half-hour marathon runs.
Also on the bill for TNM's 60th season: Denis Marleau directing a new translation of King Lear by Normand Chaurette; a revival of Réjean Ducharme's HA ha!… starring Anne-Marie Cadieux; and classics by Georges Feydeau and Moliere.
J. Kelly Nestruck