I met Évelyne Brochu! 😻🙌👌💜🤙
I waited for Évelyne Brochu after “L'Idiot” on Thursday (April 12, 2018) and I was the only one who waited. She hugged me 3 separate times and blew me a kiss. We talked about how I flew in from LA that morning to see her and she said “Wow, that’s so nice! And I made you wait, I had friends visit me backstage” and hugged me. I told her “No worries” and that she was amazing and that I got this ticket cheap + got a free ticket for Saturday’s show from a Tumblr buddy, all I needed to find was a flight and a place to stay. Thankfully I was able to book a cheap flight and found a place walking distance from the theatre. Then she complimented my leather jacket and I pointed out that a bunch of the pins were of her and she said “Aw! I didn’t even notice. Oh an ‘X Company’ one” and proceeded to touch and feel lots of the pins, but stopping on the one of Cosima and Delphine and said “I really love this one!” I said “Oh yes, my fave, you and Tatiana.” And she said “Isn’t Tat the best?” I told her “Yes definitely” and that I was lucky enough to get a pic with Tatiana a few weeks ago at the “Outside In” screening and she said she hadn’t seen that movie but will check it out. We got to talking about how I got to see Tat at a couple of UCB shows because of our mutual love for the theatre and how I took pictures/gifs and Tat even posted one of my pictures to her Instagram and Évelyne said “oh what’s your name on Instagram, I’m going to have to check out your work as a photographer.” I told her that that’s very kind, but it’s just a hobby and that lead to me talk about how I’m a caregiver and that UCB and events and stuff + photography is just my outlet and fun for me.
The pins reminded me of the Andy Shauf patch I got her, so I said that she had recommended Andy Shauf during an X Company interview and because of that I was found out about him was able to see him live a few days before the Orphan Black’s Paleyfest panel (he’s so good!), I was hoping to give the patch to her after the panel, but wasn’t able to, so I gave it to her on Thursday and she said “oh (something in french that I didn’t understand, but I’m pretty sure I had literal heart eyes), I’m going to put it on my jean jacket!”
She asked me how I like “L'Idiot” and I embarrassingly told her that I don’t know french but I read the cliff notes and watched the movie version with English subtitles so I got what was going on. I told her I liked the fact that they break the forth wall and talk to the audience. And she was like “Yeah! I do too, I mean why not, they usually kind of make sly gestures to the audience, but never fully talk to them.” I was like “yeah it’s great to interact with the audience cause then to feed off the energy.” She said “Yeah, I agree. We had an afternoon show with a bunch of teenagers who had roaring laughter to the jokes and it made us feel like rockstars.”
Then before I could chicken out I had to thank her for Delphine and that if it wasn’t for her (and Tatiana/Cosima) I wouldn’t have explored my sexuality, but then I got flustered and was like “Sorry, it’s a long story, never mind” and she said “Hey, don’t rush, it’s okay, I’m here.” 😻😻😻 So I took a breath and proceeded to tell her that because I became a caregiver for my mom, I had to drop out of school and stop working to take care of her and because of it I got depressed and lost who I was. When I found OB I was working through that and I realized I truly didn’t know who I was anymore and when Delphine said “I have never thought about bisexuality. I mean, for myself, you know?” something clicked. If it wasn’t for her and Tatiana I wouldn’t have gotten one step closer to finding who I am. She pulled me into and hug and said “Wow, thank you for sharing that with me. I’m glad for you. You and I now have this and the show, thanks to John and Graeme and everyone.”
We took a selfie in the middle of all this talking and she was like “how is the light here? Hmm, no let’s go over here.” And I was like “maybe I could ask someone to take it with flash” and she said “no, a selfie is better so we are closer.”
She hugged me once more and said “thank you visiting my hometown, enjoy exploring Montréal. Tomorrow should be a good day to explore cause of the weather. It’s like 10 which is nothing to you.” I said it was 90 degrees when I left LA so I’m pretty sure I’m going to get sick, but it’s worth it.“ We laughed and she said "Ok, I’m going to go sleep.”
I was like “Oh yeah, of course. I’m sleepy too, I got in at like 10 AM and flew out at 11 PM from LA and on top of that I had a layover in Toronto, so I’m pretty much running on fumes.” She said “Shit, that’s why it was a cheap flight!”
We laughed again and I said “but it was totally worth it.” And she said “I love it.” She said “I’ll see you Saturday” then she blew me a kiss and said “au revoir, mon cher”.
I waited for Évelyne again after I saw L'Idiot for second time on Saturday (April 14, 2018). I brought her a gift (a box of chocolates from the place I had brunch and a cat toy for her cat, that I had seen while exploring the city). I apologized because I don’t know much about cats and I obvs don’t know anything about her cat. She said “Oh! That is so sweet, you are so sweet!” I told her that “They apparently just got the toy in that day and it had lasers and threw treats and stuff, so hopefully it enjoys it.” And she was like “my cat doesn’t have toys, she has been playing with like a cork thing.” And we laughed.
Then I told her that the audience’s reaction was so much more outward and loud. And she was like “Oh yeah, I could feel it. You were here Thursday right? Yeah, it’s great when it’s loud like that. We were feeding it to each other.”
I then asked her if we could take a picture with my camera this time. And she said “Oh yeah, maybe we can ask someone.” she instantly switched to french to ask someone. Swoon. Someone offered and she said “Oh hold on, let me take my hair down.” Proceeds to pull her hair down and shake it out and comb her fingers through it. Ugh. 🤤😻 Then we took one picture, but we blocked the way and it was a bit blurry, so we switch sides and then took it again. I went to look at the picture and Évelyne looked over and said “Are my eyes open? Oh we look great!”
Then I told her if she can sign my playbill and she asked how to spell my name and she said “oh belle.” I told her the origin of my name (First 3 letters of my parent’s name put together. Dad : DIOnisio + mom : ZENaida = DIOZEN).
Then I thanked her and told her I didn’t want to keep her because I knew she had two shows that night. And she said “Yeah I’m dead, we had 7 shows in 5 days” and I blurted out “Well you look great.” She giggled and said “Thank you”
Then she said “Sorry the weather is bad, but I hope you are enjoying Montréal.” And I told her “I was able to sightseeing yesterday at Old Montréal. Today is freezing, but it’s still gorgeous.” She said “Well that’s good.”
Then she thanked me again for the gifts and hugged me while simultaneously saying in my ear “Safe travels.”
Then I said “Thank you, take care.”
She said “you too! Bye!” And blew me a kiss again.
This is way too long, but I had such an adrenaline rush after these two shows/meetings and didn’t want to forget or miss a damn thing so I typed this all out after walking back to my hotel.
L'Idiot was excellent!
!!!SPOILERS!!!
Évelyne played Nastasya Filipovna so well! Like Nastasya as a character flips from being a very strong/confident and falling apart. And she definitely goes back and forth A LOT and Évelyne nailed it! And it’s crazy how she gives so much by not doing much. Like when she first steps out she literally stands still, staring at the audience, for like 5 minutes as people talk about her, then slowly you see her get annoyed and then she snaps at the men. She goes from hysterical laughter to fighting and choking another character/ being choked and all in these amazing outfits (big dresses, head pieces, jewelry, etc.) I can keep going on about how amazing Évelyne, but the rest of the cast was fantastic too. There is this one scene a party scene where the light and music switch to happy dancing from dark and intense. The lighting was so magical. I haven’t seen live theatre other than low budget school productions, so this might be the norm but I was mesmerized by what the lighting did and how it changed things. Strong and talented cast. Breaking the forth wall was a great decision, really killed with humor, emotion, drama, etc. You really are with the cast as an audience member and as if you are in it with them. I loved it and was so glad I got to see it twice. And my seats were from the very left and very right, so I got like every angle of the show. Haha
Anyway, Évelyne is an angel! L'Idiot was glorious. I bought a bunch of Évelyne’s movies for cheap without having to pay shipping to LA. I also got a bunch of albums of artist from Montréal that I love, without having to pay shipping. This trip was ace. I can’t thank my Tumblr buddy enough for the free ticket and I’m so glad I was able to find a cheap flight and hotel and my dad was able to take care of my mom. Thank you universe for letting everything fall into place for such an amazing trip. 😻🙌👌💕
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