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• Text
  Sylvio Arriola
  Carole Faisant
  Nuria Garcia
  Tony Guilfoyle
  Martin Haberstroh
  Robert Lepage
  Sophie Martin
  Roberto Mori
• Director
  Robert Lepage
• Dramaturg
  Peder Bjurman
• Director Assistant
  Félix Dagenais
• Performed by
  Sylvio Arriola
  Nuria Garcia
  Tony Guilfoyle
  Martin Haberstroh
  Sophie Martin
  Roberto Mori
• Original music
  Philippe Bachman
• Set Designer
  Jean Hazel
• Lighting Designer
  Louis-Xavier Gagnon-Lebrun
• Sound Designer
  Jean-Sébastien Côté
• Costume Designer
  Sébastien Dionne
  Assisted by Stéphanie Cléroux
• Props Designer
  Virginie Leclerc
• Images Designer
  David Leclerc
• Wind Artist
  Daniel Wurtzel
• Wigs
  Rachel Tremblay
• Production & Tour Manager
  Marie-Pierre Gagné
• Technical Director
  Paul Bourque
• Technical Director - touring
  Patrick Durnin
• Stage Manager
  Katia Talbot
• Lighting Manager
  Renaud Pettigrew
• Sound Manager
  Stanislas Elie
• Video Manager
  David Leclerc
• Costume Manager
  Sylvie Courbron
• Props Manager
  Virginie Leclerc
• Head Stagehand
  Anne Marie Bureau
• Stagehand
  Simon Laplante
• Technical Consultant
  Catherine Guay
  Tobie Horswill
• Set building
  Astuce Décors
• Costume maker
  Par Apparat conception créative
• Director's Agent
  Lynda Beaulieu
• An Ex Machina production initiated by the 360° Network and commissioned by Luminato, Toronto Festival of Arts & Creativity
  in coproduction with
  Teatro Circo Price – Madrid °
  Ruhrtriennale
  Scène nationale de Sénart – La Coupole °
  La Comète – Scène nationale de Châlons-en-Champagne °
  Célestins, Théâtre de Lyon
  Cirque Jules Verne & Maison de la Culture – Scène nationale d'Amiens °
  Roundhouse – Londres °
  Odéon-Théâtre de l’Europe
  Østre Gasværk Teater – Copenhague °
  Norfolk & Norwich Festival °
  International Stage at Gasverket Stockholm °
  ° Members of the 360° Network, an international group of round artistic venues.
• Associate Production - Europe, Japan
  Epidemic (Richard Castelli, assisted by Chara Skiadelli, Florence Berthaud and Claire Dugot)
Associate Production - United Kingdom
Cultural Industry (Michael Morris) Associate Production - The Americas, Asia (except Japan), Australia, NZ
Menno Plukker Theatre Agent (Menno Plukker, assisted by Sarah Rogers and Geneviève Gouin)
• Ex Machina Producer
  Michel Bernatchez
• Ex Machina is funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, Quebec's Arts and Literature Council and the City of Quebec.

Playing Cards 1: SPADES

Regular deck: 52 cards. 4 colours. 4 royal families. 2 jokers.
Tarot deck: 78 cards. 4 symbols. 4 royal families. 21 arcana or trump cards. 1 joker.

Card games consist of a series of rules, symbols, signs, mathematical or numerological structures, mythologies, and, above all, characters. By combining and ordering them, you can create as many stories as there are possible arrangements. At least that’s the intuition guiding Robert Lepage and his collaborators on the project called Playing Cards. With such a range of possibilities, the creators imposed the structure of a deck of cards on the project. It will consist of four parts: SPADES, HEARTS, DIAMONDS, and CLUBS, each exploring a universe inspired by the asset the suit represents.

Research into the origin of cards invariably leads back to the Arab world. The tetralogy’s four parts, each independent and yet interrelated with the others, will make up a cosmos dealing with our past, present and future relationships, our exchanges, and sometimes too, our culture shocks when encountering the Arab way of life.

Playing Cards 1: SPADES
The first part, SPADES, explores the theme of war. The action juxtaposes two desert cities, at the moment in history when the United States invades Iraq. On one side is Las Vegas, a caricature of the Western World’s values, and on the other, Bagdad, bombed by President Bush in the name of promoting democracy.

This Tower of Babel, the gambling capital, brings together characters of different origins and affinities. During a weekend on the Strip, they will reveal the city’s multifaceted identity: the kingdom of showbiz and bling, a lieu of passage, a multicultural crossroads, a place where anything goes, a meeting point between wealth (sometimes extreme) and poverty.

Beyond luck, chance and excess, Las Vegas is also unveiled as an empire of illusions, escape and vertigo. These characters – like the gambling city that chooses to keep on playing even though the country is at war – will fight private battles with their demons here, in hopes of resolving their own contradictions.

How will the game turn out: decay or redemption? All bets are on.