Calgary is an Anglophone city in an Anglophone province. It can be hard to find bits of French culture but there are pockets of French speakers in this city. There are those who moved here, those who did the French immersion program and others who are simply striving to learn another language.
For the first-time the Calgary Fringe Festival will include a French play called La Cavate Bleue (The Blue Tie). The musical is about a young man who quits his office job to try to make it as a musician. It is a solo show written, performed and directed by Jean-François Plante-Tan.
I spoke to Plante-Tam about La cavate bleue and how western Canadians have responded to a Francophone play.
Question: What is it about?
Jean-François Plante-Tan: “The Blue Tie, La cavate bleue is about a young professional who quits his job to live his dream of becoming an artist and then he has an opportunity to make it big but then his girlfriend threatens to dump him if he leaves for his music and so in the play I explore the things we do and the sacrifices we make for things we love and for people we love. Yeah, it’s not that easy to make your dream come true, that’s where the blue tie comes in where when you put on your blue tie it’s cause you’re gonna work you know you’re gonna work but what for so that’s the concept.”
Question: Where are you from originally?
Jean-François Plante-Tan: “I’m from Montreal, Quebec, Canada.”
Question: Do you find that western audiences have been receptive to the French as a play?
Jean-François Plante-Tan: “Oh yeah, well actually this is gonna be the first time I present my show anywhere else in Canada but whatever concerns the French they love. Every time I say oh I speak French oh great I speak French too, I went to French school or blah blah blah, it’s a fun thing. People really like it and I think they’re going to really enjoy the fact that there’s a French play coming all the way from Montreal to offer them a Francophone play.”
Question: And like there’s not a lot of French culture out here at all so it’s kind of cool to have the opportunity to get that.
Jean-François Plante-Tan: “Yeah, definitely actually a lot of people went to immersion school and understand a little bit and like when I did my research and all that all my friends who have friends or family here they all like French and miss it and they want more and there’s a lot of students in French immersion as well so there’s definitely a crowd here it’s just to reach out to them.”
La cavate bleue will be showing at the Calgary Fringe Festival.
Photograph by Rhiannon M. Kirkland.
Join our list
Subscribe to our mailing list and get weekly updates on our latest contests, interviews, and reviews.
Thank you for subscribing.
Something went wrong.
