MONTREAL - Following widespread criticism, a former French rock star who was convicted of manslaughter and was set to star in a Montreal theatre production will no longer be doing so.
At a press conference Friday, the artistic director at the Theatre du nouveau monde, Lorraine Pintal, still appeared puzzled at the uproar triggered by the news that Bertrand Cantat would be performing in a production of Des femmes under the direction of Quebec's Wajdi Mouawad.
Cantat, the lead singer of the platinum-selling French band Noir Désir, served four years of an eight-year manslaughter sentence for the 2003 killing of popular French actress Marie Trintignant. He beat her to death in a drunken fit of jealous rage in Lithuania.
Cantat, a friend of Mouawad's, was given an offer to play in the on stage orchestra in Des femmes, which was set to open next year.
The news that Cantat would be coming to perform in Montreal outraged women's rights groups, politicians, and others in both Quebec and France. But Pintal said Friday it was more the consequence of the outrage than the initial reasons for it that led to her decision to pull the plug on Cantat's inclusion in the production.
Rather, it was the fact that as a convicted criminal, the chances of Cantat receiving permission to enter Canada were made much slimmer by all the negative publicity it received.
"With everything that came out of this, it's pretty obvious that if he were to make a request to come to Canada it would be denied," Pintal said. "So it's obvious that this uproar played a part in the decision we took."
In a press release, Pintal said Mouawad has not yet decided if he will continue forward with the production without Cantat, or if he will simply cancel it.
In that same release, Pintal explained that she gave Mouawad all the artistic latitude he wanted in the production and that is why she did not object to Cantat being included, because it was an artistic decision.
"After making that artistic decision, I never could have imagined that the presence of Bertrand Cantat as a musician on stage would trigger such a massive media, societal and political debate," she states in the news release. "While we heard from many people supporting the project, we were also confronted with serious denunciations, some that were even violent towards Wajdi Mouawad, Bertrand Cantat and the TNM."
Cantat announced in France on Friday his withdrawal from Mouawad's production of the play at the theatre festival in Avignon, France.
The singer said in a statement that "for personal reasons and in deference to the pain of Jean-Louis Trintignant," he had "chosen not to participate in the performances of the play 'Cycles de femmes' at the Avignon festival."
His decision came a day after actor Jean-Louis Trintingant insisted he would never walk on the stage of an event that features the man who killed his daughter.
News that Cantat would appear on stage in Montreal triggered widespread outrage among politicians, women's groups and many ordinary Quebecers.
"I have only regrets for all those who have been hurt or shocked," Pintal said Friday.
"I also have a lot of respect for those who took the time to write us and tell us about their experiences."
With files from The Canadian Press
