This weekend, I had the privilege of sitting down for a Q&A with the director of this year’s A Kind of Alaska theatre production, Oscar Lecuyer. Eloquent, artistically inclined, and the incoming Department of English Student Association (DESA) president, Oscar is a triple threat with a charming disposition and a knack for public speaking; this interview basically wrote itself.
Brie White for Her Campus McGill (HC McGill): Tell me about your role with Directors’ Projects.
Oscar Lecuyer (OL): I’m the director for one of the plays presented in this year’s festival. I find that, no doubt because I’m French, I prefer the term “metteur en scene” which translates to “the one that puts [the play] onto/into the stage.” The director is the one who develops a vision for how the words are going to come off of the page and actually materialise themselves on the stage. I chose to direct A Kind of Alaska sometime in mid-July; it begins with a desire to explore something, a notion, an idea, a feeling. It will be the first production I have directed at McGill. I read a ton of acts throughout the summer while I was working as a camp counsellor, and this Harold Pinter play immediately stood out to me…though at that point I didn’t really know why – that’s what directing is: the rehearsal of your vision. As one of my favourite practitioners Peter Brook said, “The work of rehearsal is looking for meaning and then making it meaningful.”
HC McGill: That sounds like an amazing opportunity. It’s always so refreshing to hear someone talk about what they love to do so passionately! With that in mind, could you give our readers a small tidbit about your upcoming play? Is this the first one you’ve directed, or have you had a lot of experience with theatre productions?
OL: I’ve been seriously involved in theatre for five years now, ever since I was cast as a lead actor in 9th grade. I completed the IB program and theatre was one of my options, so I studied it formally for two years before coming to McGill. During that time in high school, I worked closely with my theatre teacher who’s become a bit of a long-distance mentor and guide in all of my work. I grew up and went to school in India, so I was influenced by a lot of performance forms that one might consider more ‘eastern’ and definitely more physical than some of the work that comes out “the western theatre”…whatever that means.
This is the fourth show that I’ve directed thus far, and the biggest and most ambitious one yet, no doubt. For the first time, I am double-casting one of my characters with an actress and a dancer; neither is more important and they are as apart from each other as they are dependent. It’s been a wonderful eclectic process, and if you’re curious, you should come see the show, along with all of the others running next week (5 different shows running at once!).
HC McGill: You’re really selling this, it’s so intriguing to hear about all the different influences that go into your work, and how thoroughly and meticulously you plan it. Tell us where to find the Where/When/What/Who on A Kind of Alaska!
OL: Next week, A Kind of Alaska is running alongside How I Learned to Drive, written by Paula Vogel and directed by Shanti Gonzales, Thursday at 4PM, Friday at 7PM, Saturday at 1PM. Tickets are $5. To reserve, please email publicity.english@mcgill.ca or call 514-368-6070.
HC McGill: Do you find that what you’re studying helps you when you’re actually in the process of putting together a show? How has it impacted the way you organize your productions and think about your creative work?
OL: Definitely, especially considering that the people who you work with and perform with are often theatre majors themselves. It helps in forming a vision for the show, and the show in turn helps in your classes too! There is a direct application of what you learn in your work. I find that in this program, the learning doesn’t really stop. We’ll often find ourselves at parties with “theatre friends,” and people will be piss drunk arguing over theory (all in good humour) throwing play-puns and impersonating characters and practitioners. It is such a privilege. Just as an example, in my Director’s Note I quote Antonin Artaud, a French practitioner. I’ve studied him from different angles in high school and in three courses here at McGill…I wouldn’t be able to tell you what aspects of what I’ve learnt or how I’ve digested it or how it has seeped into my show, but I know for a fact that the education I’m lucky to receive in the classroom is inseparable from the work that is produced. It’s ‘praxis’ theory through practice.
HC McGill: Work must never feel like work then, you’re a lucky – and obviously multi-talented – guy! With that in mind, tell me about your other endeavours, like your upcoming DESA presidency and what your plans are for such an incredible responsibility.
OL: I’m the incoming president of the Department of English Student Association (Undergraduate) next year. This is somewhat a logistical extension of the theatre aspect of my education [laughs]. I am so enamoured with the opportunity to go to events that are related to what I study right here at McGill. Sidenote: McGill has fantastic theatre companies like Players’, TNC, Savoy, The English Department, just to name a few. As you can tell, I feel strongly about the companies I am familiar with and work with, and encourage you all to check them out. It is this joy which made me want to join DESA. I served as the drama and theatre rep this year and as a returning exec I ran for president in the hopes of continuing to expand and extend the undergrad English community outside of the classroom and to increase ‘English student life’. To balance that responsibility with theatre and class, I do have to say I have no idea [laughs again, thunderously]. I think I’m going to schedule time blocks during the week during which I will focus on DESA; that way I can treat the position and time commitment like a class and integrate it into my schedule.
HC McGill: All that on-campus involvment and you still manage to have a social life! I wish you the best of luck with your obviously very full schedule, but if I know you (and I think I do), I know you’ll excel at it – and make all us mere mortals jealous in the process. Okay, last question(s) before I’m sure you have to run off to one of your million commitments; do you have any plays, directors, or writers’ works that inspire you or inspire the way you work? Is there a play that really speaks to you, or one that you would readily recommend as a must-see?
OL: I seek to explore “physical theatre” as both an idea and a concept. The question, what is physical theatre, is precisely the one which the ‘genre,’ or style or mode or medium – that’s another debate in itself – seeks to answer. I grew up in Asia, outside of my French culture, and have had the opportunity to move around. In doing so, I’ve begun to wonder, “What binds us as humans?” The phrasing is actually something which I’m borrowing from a course on Solitude I’m taking right now. Aside from language, culture, and external appearance, once we get to the crux of the concept of “being”and “being human,” what remains? Does something remain? Or are we “a small and lonely human race, showing no sign of mastering solitude?” (Adrienne Rich, “Stepping Backward”). This is what I choose to explore in my essays for class and in the work that I try to take part of.
HC McGill: Any last words for your readers and audience?
OL: I hope to see you at the show!
Images provided by interviewee