Robert Lepage/Ex Machina: Revolutions in Theatrical Space provides an ideal introduction to one of our most innovative companies - and a much-needed and timely reappraisal of Lepage's oeuvre. International, interdisciplinary and intercultural to the core, Ex Machina have negotiated some of the most complex creative and cultural challenges of our time. This book maps the story of that journey by analysing the full spectrum of their richly varied work. Through a comprehensive historiography of productions since 1994, Robert Lepage/Ex Machina offers a detailed picture of the relationship between director and company, while connecting Ex Machina to culturally specific features of Québec, and its theatre. This book reveals for the first time how overlooked aspects of creativity and culture shaped the company's early work, while installing a dynamic interplay between director and company that would spark a unique and ongoing evolution of praxis. Central to this re-evaluation of practice is the book's identification of an architectural aesthetic at the heart of Ex Machina's work, an aesthetic which provides its artistic and political centres of gravity. Moreover, this architectural aesthetic powers the emergence of concrete narrative as a new and distinctive mode of theatrical storytelling - uniting story and space, body and technology, content and form - and demanding that we discover the politics of these performances in the energetic gestures of theatre design, and space itself. Drawing on extensive interviews with Lepage, Ex Machina personnel and collaborative partners, Robert Lepage/Ex Machina calls upon us to revise both our creative and critical perceptions of this vital and distinctive practice.

AcknowledgementsIntroduction: GenesisEx Machina in briefRevolutions in theatrical spaceArchitectural aestheticsThe road to Ex MachinaLearning curvesFoundations: la Caserne and the patenteuxPart One: Foundations and Stepping Stones (1994-1999)IntroductionChapter One: Lepagean AestheticsDiscovering Japan's geo-poetry: Seven Streams of the River Ota Turning the power of space into theatreContradiction as aesthetic keyFlagshipsCounterpoint: A Dream Play Chapter Two: Making Concrete NarrativesGround work: The Geometry of Miracles Concrete poetry Making Narrative Concrete: Elsinore Scenographic acting and the body politicConcrete narratives - sublime effectsCritical condition Form as cultural expression Chapter Three: Critical ThemesEvolution Turning point: the importance of CelestineClass, contradiction and the antiheroThe Damnation of Faust in JapanProcess, collaboration, authorship and directingCultural difference, cultural specificityPart Two: Choosing All Directions (2000-2008)IntroductionChapter Four: UpgradesZulu Time: Q for QuébecUpgrading the TrilogyThe importance of MétissagesMaking The Far Side of the MoonDramatic devices and the architecture of convergence Chapter Five: Québec Stories Art and politics: La Casa Azul and The Busker's OperaDance with three hands: EonnagataNarrative terms: the story of the story of the storytellerKÀ: entertainment architecture Writing the myth Reading the circus Chapter Six: New Ways The Image Mill: all roads lead to homeOpera on tour: 1984 and The Rake's ProgressEx Machina at the Metropolitan Opera The Blue Dragon: character, culture and concrete narrativeLipsynch: staging the screamProcess in process Part Three: Starting Points (2008-2018)IntroductionChapter Seven: Critical RelationshipsThe Nightingale and Other Short FablesTotem: evolving through the gift shopCollaboration: Ex Machina and the Metropolitan Opera Wagner, architectural aesthetics, and Der Ring des NibelungenReviewing the RingThe Tempest and L'Amour de LoinPaying for art Chapter Eight: Brave New WorldsVirtual reality: The Library at NightThe Tempest: collaborating the nationHearts design Writing HeartsConcrete HeartsWritingBet on red Chapter Nine: BeginningFrame by FrameUpgrades Making 887Taking the narrative turnLe DiamantCoda NotesBibliographyIndex