Discuss the work of Robert Lepage with his theatre of machinery: of vision(s), of

sound(s), of language(s).
Robert Lepage (December 12th 1957) is one of the most renowned and respected theatre artists from
Canada. He has studied my different disaplines in art; including: Stage/film director, deviser,
playwright, multimedia artist and an actor. As Dunjerovic asserts he is widely regarded as a key
contemporary performance visionary (2007, p. 1) In his early childhood he suffered from alopecia
which lead to depression in his teenage years and therefore turned to theatre as a release to
overcome his anxious tenancies.
Due to Lepage's bilingual background (french & english speaking) he focuses much of his work
around language and forms of unifying communication through sounds and physicality, opposing
spoken words. Lepage is attracted to spoken words as sounds; he believes the musicality of the text
has advantages over intellectual textual analysis. It can allow us to experience the words spoken by
an actor emotionally and sensually. (Dunjerovic, 2007, p. 119) With this higher level of combining
emotion with communication with the audience and negating languages political weight, Lepage
enables a more intimate interaction with the actors on stage.
Commenting on one of his first productions, Lepage says. What I like to do is use words as music,
people's talk becomes music and what they do (physically) are the real verbs, the real actions, the
real phrases(Dunjerovic, 2007, p. 119)
By performing in this way Lepage wanted to break down the barriers of language and share an
understanding, with his mixed language performances, that language has become an unnecessary
barrier that blocks unity and understanding.
Lepage was highly interested in interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary artwork and performance
and so he formed a company called Ex Machina and he uses all of his previous abilities and takes
on the role of the artistic director. Within Ex Machine he explored the relationship between man and
machine and how the machine can sometimes be used as a mask, therefore relieving a barrier
between the two.
Robert Lepage builds his work with intention to have a productive and meaningful process as well
as an inconclusive result, every performance changes from night to night and no one performance
will be the same as the next. He relates to the idea of creation exploration and bases much of his
process on improvisation, focusing intensely on the emotional connection with the audience through
musicality, physicality and atmospheric perception, working with a higher meaning/consciousness
of theatre.
Bibliography
Dundjerovic, A. (2007). The Theatricality of Robert Lepage. Canada: McGillQueen's Press.
Dundjerovic, A. (2009). Robert Lepage. Oxon: Routledge.