Tag Archives: Théâtre Cercle Molière

Théâtre Cercle Molière celebrates its 100th anniversary: A legacy preserved in the collections of Library and Archives Canada

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Version française

By Ariane Brun del Re

This year, Théâtre Cercle Molière, a professional theatre company located in the St. Boniface neighbourhood in Winnipeg, is celebrating its centenary. This anniversary is all the more remarkable as it marks the existence of the oldest Francophone theatre company in Canada.

Founded to perform classics of the French repertoire, Théâtre Cercle Molière turned to Québécois and Canadian theatre in the 1950s. Over the following decade, it transformed into a professional company and became one of the main hubs of Franco-Manitoban playwriting, a role it continues to play today.

Although the archival collection of Cercle Molière is preserved at the Centre du patrimoine of the Société historique de Saint-Boniface, some documents that reflect the existence and evolution of this important theatre company are part of the collections of Library and Archives Canada (LAC), notably the Gabrielle Roy fonds.

Known for winning the prestigious Prix Femina with her novel Bonheur d’occasion (1945), later translated to English as The Tin Flute, Gabrielle Roy is originally from St. Boniface. Before becoming an internationally renowned writer, she graced the stage of Théâtre Cercle Molière on multiple occasions. She became a member around 1930 or 1931, during her time teaching at École Provencher in St. Boniface. At that time, Théâtre Cercle Molière was led by Arthur Boutal, a journalist and printer by profession, who staged French plays with the help of his wife Pauline (born Le Goff), a visual artist and fashion designer. After the death of Arthur Boutal in 1941, Pauline took over the company until 1968. The certificate below, presented to Gabrielle Roy by the Province of Manitoba in honour of the theatre company’s 50th anniversary, underscores her significant involvement with Théâtre Cercle Molière:

Certificate signed on November 1, 1975, by René E. Toupin, Minister of Tourism, Recreation and Cultural Affairs. The document features the coat of arms of Manitoba and a portrait of Molière.

Certificate awarded to Gabrielle Roy by the Province of Manitoba in recognition of her participation in Théâtre Cercle Molière. (e011271382)

The Gabrielle Roy fonds also contains several drafts of the text entitled “Le Cercle Molière… porte ouverte…”, which she wrote around 1975 for an album intended to commemorate the company’s 50th anniversary. The article was published in the collective work Chapeau bas : réminiscences de la vie théâtrale et musicale du Manitoba français (1980). In it, Gabrielle Roy recalls the challenges faced by the members of Théâtre Cercle Molière: “The main difficulty for us, who had no resources, was always to secure a free space for our rehearsals. We wandered from place to place until, during a rather harsh winter, we ended up rehearsing—scarves around our necks—in the dimly lit and poorly heated space of a warehouse. In the end, I obtained permission from the director of Académie Provencher, where I was a teacher, to use my classroom for this purpose.” [Translation] (p. 117)

The front and back of a sheet taken from a spiral notebook. The text is written in cursive with blue ink and includes several additions and erasures.

The front and back of the first page of the notebook in which Gabrielle Roy wrote the text “Le Cercle Molière… porte ouverte…” published in Chapeau bas. (e011271380)

After taking on various positions for the theatre company, Gabrielle Roy landed her first real role in the play Blanchette by Eugène Brieux, which premiered on November 30, 1933. She played the daughter of an aristocratic couple. Thanks to this play, the company stood out at the Manitoba Regional Festival, a preliminary competition that opened the doors to the new Dominion Drama Festival, which took place in Ottawa in April 1934. Against all odds, the company triumphed in the Francophone category.

Two years later, Cercle Molière once again won the Manitoba Regional Festival, with Jean-Jacques Bernard’s play Les Sœurs Guédonec. The play featured two old peasant women, one of whom, Maryvonne, was played by Gabrielle Roy and the other, Marie-Jeanne, by Élisa Houde, as shown in the program below:

The cover page of the program, printed on blue-grey cardboard, provides general information about the 1936 edition of the Manitoba Regional Festival. The interior pages, printed on yellowed paper, list the casts of four plays performed at the festival—including Les Sœurs Guédonec, presented by Théâtre Cercle Molière—along with an advertisement.

Program from the 1936 edition of the Manitoba Regional Festival, during which Théâtre Cercle Molière presented Les Sœurs Guédonec, with Gabrielle Roy in the role of Maryvonne. (MIKAN 5383741)

Théâtre Cercle Molière was thus selected to participate in the Dominion Drama Festival, where it won the trophy for Best French Play for the second time. During this stay in Ottawa, Gabrielle Roy crossed paths with one Yousuf Karsh. The young Canadian photographer of Armenian descent collaborated with Ottawa Little Theatre, where he learned to photograph actors on stage, as he recounted in his book In Search of Greatness (1962): “This experience of photographing actors on stage, with stage lighting, was electrifying. [My mentor, John H.] Garo had taught me to work with daylight, where one had to wait for the lighting to be right. In this new situation, the director could command the lighting to do what he wished. The unlimited possibilities of artificial light overwhelmed me.” (p. 48) The lighting techniques he honed in the theatre, which allowed for significant contrasts between black and white, would ultimately become his trademark.

Driven by his interest in theatre, Karsh became the official photographer of the Dominion Drama Festival in 1933. LAC preserves several photographs he took of Gabrielle Roy during the performance of Les Sœurs Guédonec:

Black-and-white photograph of two women sitting at a table near a fireplace. Each is wearing a dark-coloured dress, an apron and a white headpiece.

Photograph by Yousuf Karsh showing Élisa Houde (on the left) and Gabrielle Roy (on the right) in a performance of the play Les Sœurs Guédonec at the Dominion Drama Festival. (e011069771_s1)

When their paths crossed, both Gabrielle Roy and Yousuf Karsh were 27 years old. Without knowing it, they were each on the verge of an internationally renowned career, propelled by the world of theatre. The two artists would leave their mark in their respective disciplines: she, in literature; he, in photography.

Years later, while examining one of the photographs of herself and Élisa Houde taken by Karsh, Gabrielle Roy wrote: “I look at the small, yellowed photo and feel a strange shock in my heart. In the end, what was it that drove this woman [Élisa Houde], a calm and already quite elderly schoolteacher, to suddenly throw herself into such a whirlwind? What, after all, was it that drove all of us? Would the world be changed because a group of amateurs, coming from the far reaches of the country, was about to perform a play from the French repertoire in the Canadian capital? In the ethnic diversity of Manitoba, almost entirely dominated by English, what were we—this small group of French speakers, our reckless efforts, this bold hope of ours—still, to this day, I wonder how it could have possibly flourished in our isolation? A flower in the desert!” [Translation] (1980, pp. 120–121)

What is certain is that Gabrielle Roy would be transformed by this “flower in the desert,” as she so aptly put it. Her time at Théâtre Cercle Molière had confirmed her desire to write: “During rehearsals, as I sometimes discovered and expressed myself through the words of an author, I felt the desire to perhaps, one day, give voice to others. What a thrill it must be!” [Translation] (1980, p. 123)

One hundred years after its founding, Théâtre Cercle Molière remains an open house, a gathering place, and a hub of vibrant activity for Francophone theatre in Manitoba and beyond. It has propelled the careers of many artists and left a lasting impact on generations of spectators. Happy anniversary, Théâtre Cercle Molière!

Additional resources:

  • Gabrielle Roy, une vie : biographie, François Ricard (OCLC 35940894)
  • Chapeau bas : réminiscences de la vie théâtrale et musicale du Manitoba français (OCLC 10112702)
  • In Search of Greatness: Reflections of Yousuf Karsh, Yousuf Karsh (OCLC 947443)
  • Website of the Théâtre Cercle Molière
  • Gabrielle Roy fonds, Library and Archives Canada (MIKAN 3672665)
  • Yousuf Karsh fonds, Library and Archives Canada (MIKAN 138136)
  • The Dominion Drama Festival—Theatre Canada fonds, Library and Archives Canada (MIKAN 99527)
  • Performing Arts Collection, Library and Archives Canada (MIKAN 106737)

Ariane Brun del Re is an archivist of French language literature in the Cultural Archives Division at Library and Archives Canada.

Cercle Molière: a century-old Franco-Manitoban institution to discover in LAC’s archives!

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Version française

By Théo Martin

Did you know that Le Cercle Molière, one of the oldest Canadian institutions in performing arts, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year? Library and Archives Canada (LAC) is marking this anniversary by publishing two blog posts highlighting some elements of our archival fonds and collections that showcase the beginnings and evolution of this Franco-Manitoban theatre company.

Le Cercle Molière was founded in 1925 in Saint-Boniface, Manitoba, by Belgian professor André Castelein de la Lande, Manitoba civil servant and administrator Raymond Bernier, and translator and administrator Louis-Philippe Gagnon—who became its first president. In its early days, Le Cercle Molière was an amateur theatre organization dedicated to promoting French culture and language in Manitoba. It also sought to introduce French theatre to the English-speaking population of Winnipeg and surrounding areas, bringing both language communities closer together. Its first production, Le monde où l’on s’ennuie by Édouard Pailleron presented at the Dominion Theatre in Winnipeg in 1925, won over the audience. Throughout the 1920s, Le Cercle Molière maintained its momentum and put on one to several productions per year, gradually carving out its place in the cultural landscape.

Two program covers side by side.

On the left, an image of the production program for L’échelle cassée by George Berr, 1926. Performing Arts Collection, MG28 I 139, volume 18, file 14. On the right, an image of the production program for L’Arlésienne by Alphonse Daude, 1928. Performing Arts Collection, MG28 I 139, volume 28, file 14. (MIKAN 4705232)

From its early years, Le Cercle Molière extended its reach beyond the borders of Saint-Boniface, touring throughout Manitoba and providing the province’s French-speaking communities with invaluable access to theatre. In 1934, its reputation reached a milestone when the 14th Governor General of Canada, Lord Bessborough, invited the theatre company to participate in the Dominion Drama Festival. The same year, Le Cercle Molière won the award for best French-language play, both regionally and nationally, for its production of Blanchette by Eugène Brieux.

This national recognition marks the beginning of a long-term participation in the Festival, resulting in many regional and national trophies. By showing that it was possible to do French-language theatre outside of Quebec, where theatre institutions were already competing, Le Cercle Molière affirmed its role as an ambassador for French-language theatre and promoted its influence across Canada.

Side by side images of a program from the Dominion Drama Festival and a page containing information about a play titled Blanchette.

On the left, an image of the program for the second annual final of the Dominion Drama Festival, April 1934. On the right, a page featuring the play Blanchette, produced by Le Cercle Molière, which won the award for best French-language play. Performing Arts Collection, MG28 I 139, file 14. (MIKAN 4705232)

Photograph of four people standing on a stage in the middle of a set.

Actors from Le Cercle Molière in the production Le voyage à Biarritz during the Dominion Drama Festival in Ottawa, in 1937. That year, Joseph Plante received the award for best French actor. Photo: Yousuf Karsh, Yousuf Karsh fonds, 1987-054 NPC. (MIKAN 4332030)

Doing French-language theatre was no easy task for Le Cercle Molière and other French-language theatre groups outside of Quebec. During the 1936 festival, some Quebec journalists and critics, no doubt offended that the Le Cercle Molière had won the award for best French-language play that year, criticized the poor quality of the French spoken in its productions:

[Translation] “The Quebec actors who participated in the Ottawa Drama Festival are sore losers. At least, that was what was stated in a Canadian Press article that was published in the newspapers. They criticized Mr. Granville-Barker’s decision to award the place of honour to Le Cercle Molière. They claimed that Western artists did not have pure French-Canadian accents. As for the judge, he was allegedly incompetent because he did not know our language well enough […].”

     La Liberté (Saint-Boniface, Manitoba), April 6, 1936. (1)

Fortunately, however, these criticisms died down over the following decades.

In the 1930s, a dynamic couple from France, Arthur and Pauline Boutal, expertly produced Le Cercle Molière’s shows, which received acclaim throughout French Canada and internationally. After Arthur’s death, Pauline kept the momentum well into the 1960s. Le Cercle Molière presented a wider range of productions, including several youth plays. In 1961, it launched l’Atelier, a first training program for emerging theatre artists in Manitoba.

Starting in the 1970s, Le Cercle Molière became a professional company under the artistic direction of Roland Mahé, offering more space for contemporary French-language playwriting, experimental playwriting and youth theatre (notably with the creation of the Festival théâtre jeunesse [1970] and the Théâtre du Grand Cercle [1985]). Little by little, Le Cercle Molière became a hub for Franco-Manitoban and Franco-Canadian theatre. It featured works by artists and playwrights Roger Auger, Claude Dorge, Irène Mahé, Jean-Guy Roy, Jean-Pierre Dubé, Janine Tougas and Marc Prescott.

Poster for a play with hand shadows at the top of the page and writing on the rest of the page.

Poster for the play Montserrat by Emmanuel Robles, presented by Le Cercle Molière at the Dominion Drama Festival in 1971, in Ottawa. The Dominion Drama Festival fonds – Theatre Canada. R5415 1980-058 NPC. (MIKAN 2979533)

Two play covers side by side. The first one shows a woman holding a shopping bag, standing in front of a big-box store on a busy street. The second one shows a person sitting on a chair with a bag over their head and colourful lights wrapped around them from head to toe.

On the left, the play Suite manitobaine by playwright Roger Auger. Les Éditions du Blé, Saint-Boniface, 2007. ISBN 9782921347969. (OCLC 86226189) On the right, the play Sex, lies et les Franco-manitobains by playwright Marc Precott. Les Éditions du Blé, Saint-Boniface, 2013. ISBN 9782923673837, 2923673832. (OCLC 842523879)

Today known as Théâtre Cercle Molière and led by Métis actress and director Geneviève Pelletier (who will conclude her mandate on July 31, 2025), the century-old company continues to explore new artistic horizons. Working to promote cultural diversity, the company proudly showcases Franco-Canadian playwriting in Manitoba, Canada and around the world.

LAC is proud to preserve documentary evidence of this undisputed gem of the performing arts in the country. The national collection includes printed publications of works by Quebec and Franco-Canadian playwrights that have been performed on stage of Le Cercle Molière. LAC’s archival fonds and collections also include several promotional documents (posters, programs, leaflets, press clippings) from Le Cercle Molière, notably The Dominion Drama Festival – Theatre Canada fonds (R5415) and the Performing Arts Collection (R3376). In addition, Library and Archives Canada preserves the archives of individuals who have worked with Le Cercle Molière in their youth, including those of the novelist Gabrielle Roy (R11799) and the journalist Henri Bergeron (R10049). There are also many photographs taken in the 1930s by the renowned photographer Yousuf Karsh (R613) as part of the Dominion Drama Festival in Ottawa. This photographic collection contains some shots of a young actress, unknown at the time, from Saint-Boniface, Manitoba, who would become one of the most celebrated Franco-Manitoban authors of her generation (but she will be the subject of another blog post).

Additional resources

LAC fonds and collections:

Other archival centres:

    • Le Cercle Molière and Pauline Boutal fonds are located at the Centre du patrimoine (Société historique de Saint-Boniface, Manitoba).

Printed sources:

  • Dubé, Jean-Pierre, Lynne Champagne. Le Cercle Molière: 75 ans de théâtre. [Edition] Le Cercle, Winnipeg, Manitoba. [2001] (OCLC 46629181)
  • Le Cercle Molière : cinquantième anniversaire. Éditions du Blé, Saint-Boniface, Manitoba, 1975. (OCLC 2877379)
  • Lee, Betty. Love and Whisky: the story of the Dominion Drama Festival. McClelland and Stewart, Toronto, 1973. (OCLC 786525)
  • The Oxford Companion to Canadian Theatre. Oxford University Press, Toronto, 1989. (OCLC 21293755)

Websites (or online publications):

Reference

  1. Le Cercle Molière : cinquantième anniversaire. Éditions du Blé, Saint-Boniface, Manitoba, 1975. (OCLC 2877379)

Théo Martin is a Performing Arts Archivist in the Cultural Archives Division at Library and Archives Canada.