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Joël da Silva

Born in 1959 in Montreal from actor parents, Joël da Silva is only a child when he travels throughout Québec performing along with his brother and sisters puppet shows that he sometimes wrote.

From 1977 to 1980, he studies acting at Collège Lionel-Groulx college in Sainte-Thérèse. From 1980 to 1982, he works with La Cannerie creative company that performs for children but also produces commissioned works for various associations. In these collective creations, he will write, compose, perform and direct.

In 1989, he creates his first solo production, Bluebeard’s Long Sleepless Night, freely adapted from Perrault’s tale. The production tours a great deal throughout Québec, Canada and France. Afterwards, he writes and designs musical productions for various creative TYA companies. His theatre, essentially poetic, draws from myths and fairy tales, a rich universal material that he adapts with a unique sense of freedom.

In 1999, he sets up Théâtre Magasin to give himself a space where he can push his insights even further and challenge the writing, the directing and the creative processes. He advocates a theatre in which art and children can come together free from the mandatory mediation of consensus-building educational-psychology-speak or resorting to realistic situations.