Sarah Bernhardt’s presence in Montréal Québec

Amanda Lee,Geneviève De Viveiros

doi:10.5206/mf.v7i1.14365

Abstract

During the summer 2021 and under the direction of Geneviève De Viveiros, Amanda Lee produced a large portion of this study based on Sarah Bernhardt’s performances in Canada as they occurred between 1800 and 1918 and were studied by John Hare and Ramon Hathron, who included in their records her repertoire and the dates of her performances as well as critical opinions from various print sources. When Montréal constructed its francophone theater and its artistic infrastructure it quickly caught up with anglophone venues. Catholic institutions became increasingly adverse to Bernhardt deemed unworthy to represent the desired link to the French Catholic cultural bridge with the former motherland, in a context that revealed itself anti-women as well as anti-Semitic for this respected actress of Jewish ancestry, yet so famous for her French elocution. Bernhardt’s sulphureous reputation festered when she was reported as accusing people from Québec to be Iroquois or under religious guidance, setting her friend Louis Fréchette apart from the benighted crowd. Conversely, contrary to the increasingly negative reception of Bernhardt’s performances in the early 1900s, and the association of Jewish immigrants with Anglophone communities, Yiddish theatre saw a massive and fragmented growth between 1905-1910. By 1913, there were a total of three permanent professional Yiddish theatre troupes in the city.

Highlights

Sarah Bernhardt’s performances in Canada occurred between 1800 and 1918.1 John Hare and Ramon Hathron included in their records her repertoire and the dates of her performances as well as critical opinions from various print sources
Limitations In choosing to reference an already previously established timeline of historical events constructed by the by the Plan culturel numérique du Québec (BAnQ) project after the fact, there is bias in what events have been purposefully included and what events purposefully excluded
“Yiddish Theatre in Montréal (Review Essay of Jean-Marc Larue, Le Théâtre Yiddish à Montréal/Yiddish Theatre in Montréal).” Canadian Jewish Studies / Études Juives Canadiennes, 1998, doi:10.25071/1916-0925.19837

Summary

Mouvances Francophones

Sarah Bernhardt’s presence in Montréal Québec (1880, 18911905 ,1911-1917): reception, historical and cultural context. 49 Bernhardt herself was continually criticized for her choice of repertoire, though acknowledged as a talented actress, and the Church saw her selections as a personal affront and disrespect.[50] Another piece published on December 23rd, 1905, quoted a previous piece from 1892 by Cardinal Henry Edward Manning, the second archbishop of Westminster published in The Weekly Register of London, calling Bernhardt’s performance in La Dame aux Camélias: “a provocative outrage against all that there is of instinctive modesty in both men and women” an example of how immoral, poisonous and dangerous Bernhardt’s theatre was viewed in the Protestant city of London England, not solely the Catholics of Québec. Further cementing its place in Montréal’s theatrical scene, the Dora Wassermann Yiddish Theatre was founded in 1958.69

Limitations

Findings

Amanda Lee Western University Geneviève De Viveiros Western University