The Body, Voice and Breath of Theatre: An In-Depth Conversation with Jean Marc Dalpé
Hosted by Blaise Ndala
Dec 2, 2026 — 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.
About the event
Jean Marc Dalpé is one of the most prominent figures in Franco-Ontarian and Canadian theatre, with an influence that extends well beyond. This in-depth conversation with Blaise Ndala, Writer-in-Residence in the Département de français at the Faculty of Arts, will offer an opportunity to (re)discover the imagination, dreams, achievements, preoccupations and challenges that have shaped Dalpé’s long and distinguished career as an award-winning playwright, poet, novelist and translator.
The conversation will also offer a chance to hear from an author who has translated and adapted the works of numerous contemporary writers, as well as classics by Shakespeare, Brecht and others. Dalpé will reflect on his relationship with playwriting and on the ways he gives body, voice and breath to the words, intuitions and creative genius of others, particularly the writers whose works have left an enduring mark on him.
The discussion will revisit a selection of texts, both his own and those of fellow writers from an era that refuses to be forgotten. Chosen as much with the heart as with the mind by the author of Un vent se lève qui éparpille, these works will serve as reminders of their power, their singularity and their undeniable importance in the theatrical landscape.
Jean Marc Dalpé
Playwright, novelist, poet, screenwriter, translator and actor
Playwright, novelist, poet, screenwriter, translator and actor, Jean Marc Dalpé is a three-time winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award: for Le Chien in 1988, his collection of plays Il n’y a que l’amour in 1999, and his first novel, Un vent se lève qui éparpille, in 2000. Two of his other plays, Lucky Lady and Août, un repas à la campagne, were finalists for the award, as was his translation of Mansel Robinson’s plays, Roc et Rail.
He wrote the television series Temps Dur, which was nominated for a Gémeaux Award. He has also published three collections of poetry and participated in numerous literary events.
Over the years, he has translated works by several contemporary authors, as well as classics by Shakespeare and Brecht. His adaptations include the final chapter of James Joyce’s Ulysses (Molly Bloom) and Marta Hillers’s diary Une Femme à Berlin.
In the winter of 2018, he toured Western Canada with LE WILD WEST SHOW DE GABRIEL DUMONT, which he co-wrote with nine other Francophone, Anglophone and Indigenous writers. He also served as co-artistic director of the production alongside Alexis Martin and Yvette Nolan.
His play LA QUEENS’ premiered at Théâtre La Licorne in Montréal in January 2019, in a production directed by Fernand Rainville. It was subsequently adapted as an audio drama available through Transistor Média.
In 2020, Prise de parole published HALFBREED, his translation, in collaboration with Charles Bender, of Métis author Maria Campbell’s landmark work. The same translators later published ÉTERNEL ÉMERVEILLEMENT, their translation of Tomson Highway’s Permanent Astonishment, also with Prise de parole. The translation was among the finalists for the Académie des lettres du Québec’s Prix Nicole et Émile Martel.
The University of Ottawa awarded Dalpé an honorary doctorate in recognition of his body of work. He has been a member of the Ordre des francophones d’Amérique since 1997 and a Member of the Order of Canada since 2020.
More recently, he took part in the national tour of Mani Soleymanlou’s UN DEUX TROIS, a co-production by Orange Noyée and the National Arts Centre. His translation of Jason Sherman’s Copy That (DIX-QUATRE) was presented at Théâtre La Licorne in January 2023 in a production directed by Didier Lucien.
His historical epic ROME, inspired by five works by Shakespeare, was presented in April of that year at Usine C and later at the National Arts Centre. A Sibyllines production directed by Brigitte Haentjens, ROME was also published by Prise de parole.
Dalpé also served as co-artistic director of PROJET K, a multifaceted series of events encompassing a museum exhibition, public printing activities and multimedia performances, presented in Rouyn, Montréal at NTE, Québec City as part of Carrefour international de théâtre, and Ottawa.
In 2025, his translation of Shakespeare’s OTHELLO was staged at Le Trident in Québec City and later at TNM in a production directed by Didier Lucien. His new adaptation of KING LEAR was presented in Montréal in October.
In 2026, a second historical play, co-written with Alexis Martin, Yvette Nolan and Michal Mackenzie, was co-produced by NTE and La Bordée: L’EMPIRE DU CASTOR.
He is currently working on a new historical play, the third in the series, as well as an adaptation of the Oedipus myth with Jon Lachlan Stewart, who directed LEAR. He is also beginning work on new versions of several major plays by Anton Chekhov in collaboration with Brigitte Haentjens, who will direct the productions.
Blaise Ndala
Writer-in-Residence
Writer-in-Residence in the Département de français at the Faculty of Arts of the University of Ottawa, Blaise Ndala is a Canadian writer. He is most noted for his novel Sans capote ni kalachnikov, which won the 2019 edition of Le Combat des livres.
Originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ndala emigrated to Canada in 2007 and works as a lawyer in Ottawa. His debut novel, J'irai danser sur la tombe de Senghor, was published in 2014; it won the Ottawa Book Award for French fiction, and was a finalist for the Trillium Award. The novel was subsequently optioned for a film adaptation by director Rachid Bouchareb.
Sans capote ni kalachnikov was published in 2017, and was a finalist for the Trillium Award and the Grand prix littéraire d'Afrique noire. In Le Combat des livres, the novel was defended by journalist Marie-Maude Denis.
Dans le ventre du Congo was published in 2021, and later translated in English as In the Belly of the Congo.
He was shortlisted for the Trillium Book Award for French Prose in 2026 for L'Équation avant la nuit.