Interview: Montreal Sound Designer Michel Robidoux Talks About GOLD MOUNTAIN and the Creative Process

Following performances in the UK, Stockholm, and Vancouver, GOLD MOUNTAIN is coming home. Award-winning Montreal theatre company Les Deux Mondes will present the production at Théâtre Aux Écuries from April 16 to 27. The show is a multimedia production that tells the story of a Chinese emigrant in Liverpool. BroadwayWorld caught up with sound/multimedia designer Michel Robidoux to talk about his work, the company (for which Robidoux is the co-artistic director), and the creative process behind GOLD MOUNTAIN.

Robidoux's love affair with music and sound started early. As a kid, he "was fascinated by [his] mother's singing and the sounds of the electrical appliances in the house." He attended a few years of rock school, playing the guitar, and then in the early '80's he bought his first sampler. Robidoux says: "As it would allow me to create virtual musical instruments from daily sounds, that instrument was made for me...and it changed my life!" He toured the world recording sounds and then came back home to "transform these sonorous memories into musical instruments." The score for his first opera, LEITMOTIV, was composed from train sounds and the voice of Canadian mezzo-soprano Noëlla Huet. He describes the combination as reminiscent of his "mother's voice and the old washing machine." LEITMOTIV was performed in 75 cities in 20 countries and earned Robidoux an award from the Académie québécoise du théâtre for the originality of the artistic approach.

It was during a tour in China with LEITMOTIV that Robidoux began to record samples that would later inspire the score for GOLD MOUNTAIN. The rest of the music was "inspired by the crossbreeding of China and Liverpool, the cradle of The Beatles," of whom Robidoux is a big fan. Robidoux's connection to Liverpool runs even deeper: his father worked for Cunard Steamship Company, transporting cargo between Montreal and the famed English city.

Les Deux Mondes is known for its use of technology in experimental theatre, and GOLD MOUNTAIN is the result of a collaboration between the UK actors (including playwright David Yip) and the Montreal creative team: Robidoux, director Daniel Meilleur, and visual designer Yves Dubé. As Robidoux notes, "unlike the cold reputation often associated with this type of artistic process, here each image and every sound seek to focus the emotional content of the play."

The creative process started with a three-day workshop in Liverpool where the actors were recorded. Back in Montreal, Robidoux integrated the musical score with the actors' recordings, and Dubé used the soundtrack to create the visual concept. Robidoux, Dubé, and Meilleur built a template for the actors, who then came to Montreal to put it all together. Robidoux reflects: "Of course, we had to adjust the proposition to our live actors but amazingly the whole thing was convincing!" The play premiered in Liverpool in 2010.

GOLD MOUNTAIN has garnered acclaim in the UK, Sweden, and Vancouver. When asked why he thinks the show speaks to such diverse audiences, Robidoux suggests that "any play about the integration of newcomers in a society is relevant for any audience on earth. For me, it is a play about memory, hope, and willpower of continuity." He is excited now to bring the show home to Montreal, to a theatre a mere one block from where he lives. He hopes that "the audiences will carry home the emotion of all the moments and memories we shared together to bring them this beautiful production."

GOLD MOUNTAIN will run April 16-27 in English with French surtitles, presented by Les Deux Mondes with Unity Theatre, Liverpool, at Théâtre Aux Écuries, 7285, rue Chabot (near metro Fabre). Performance schedule: Tuesday to Friday at 8:30 pm, Saturday at 4:30pm.

Tickets: $12.50-$25.00. Box Office: 514 328-7437 (514 Écu-ries) no service charge or online www.auxecuries.com/billetterie, www.lesdeuxmondes.com/en/spec-index.html, or www.unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk.

Photos of Michel Robidoux courtesy of Les Deux Mondes

Photo from Gold Mountain credit Sam Heath (from left: Eugene Salleh, David Yip)

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