By Jean-Christophe Noel
Is it true that believing people die more peacefully than non-believers? This is the question posed by the newspaper in the company of Denis Bouchard, author, director and actor of the work The Last Sacrament, which will come to life on November 5 on the boards of the Cultural Center of Chambly.
“I thought fuck it! This is well bad start for me! “. This is what Denis Bouchard replies after reading a text, following the death of his father, stipulating that people of faith die more peacefully than others.
The man defines himself as being agnostic. He doubts. It cannot prove that God exists, but it cannot prove the contrary. “Religions are human institutions created by men. I am not convinced that the gods, if they exist, would necessarily agree with what men have invented to honor them. I think if Jesus came back to Earth, he would take a two minutes to see the Vatican,” he adds with a laugh.
“I think if Jesus came back to Earth, he would take a two minutes to see the Vatican. – Denis Bouchard
He sought to understand the state of mind of a person about to die. It is by going to meet individuals at the end of their life that the story he tells was born. He noticed that crises of faith are often at the end of life. He also came to the conclusion that the original premise, that believers die more lightly, was not right. “It is those who make peace with their own life and their own death who leave serene”, sums up Denis Bouchard. It denotes that people who have made peace with their death are sometimes humorous people. He says he brought chocolates to one of the women at the end of her life. “She said to me, ‘Thank you, Mr. Bouchard, but I won’t be able to eat them, because I won’t go into my ballot box,’ he says with a smile in his voice.
Serene in the face of his death
Through the work, does Denis Bouchard tame his own death, a finality that awaits all the living? “I haven’t gotten there,” he says straight away. However, it raises two points. On the one hand, he is more and more led to believe that if God exists, he is more a state than a being. Secondly, he finds that the hardest part is not dying per se, but rather accepting that he is not witness to part of his children’s lives. “That’s a big criss mourning to do! “, he pushes with emotion.
The Last Sacrament
The play takes place in palliative care. It involves a believing nurse and her daughter, a young practitioner, who surround an ex-teacher suffering from generalized cancer, who is not a believer, but who doubts. Three generations. Three points of view on death, religion, spirituality and the existence of God make this Last Sacrament “an unexpected piece that is as funny as it is dramatic”, criticizes the SPEC du Haut-Richelieu, in charge of the programming of the Cultural Center of Chambly. At his side, the actor plays with Marylou Belugou and Ayana O’Shun. “It is important to integrate these differences. It’s a play about tolerance, about accepting differences. I wanted these differences to be expressed and accepted on both sides,” contextualizes the artist. The play is described as touching, dramatic and humorous.
Immersive experience
Before COVID-19, the play was an immersive one where the viewer was an integral part of the show. In each of the rooms where the play was performed, spectators were invited to participate in the immersive component, 20-25 minutes before entering the room. The goal was to recreate the palliative care unit of any hospital. Small humorous sketches of five minutes each, inspired by real funny events featuring two extras, the three actors and the production staff, were played several times and simultaneously so that the maximum number of spectators could participate.