Theatre sets off international uproar for offering role to killer of actress

Montreal's Theatre du Nouveau Monde created a drama that even it seems unable to direct when it invited convicted murderer and French musician Bertrand Cantat to perform in Montreal next summer

The voice-mail message of the theatre's marketing and communications director said Thursday that they had retreated into a period of reflection, after an explosive public debate that spread from the airwaves to the Quebec legislature to France over a decision to have actress Marie Trintignant's killer perform in Cycles de femmes.

Groups that work with victims of conjugal violence were especially incensed that Cantat, who served just four years of an eight-year sentence for punching Trintignant, a mother of four, to death in Lithuania in 2003, be allowed to enter Canada as if nothing had happened.
But chances are, Cantat wouldn't even be allowed into Canada, according to Citizenship and Immigration Canada.
"The Immigration and Refugee Act is explicit," spokeswoman Corinne Cadou wrote in an email. "Individuals who have been convicted of serious crimes that would constitute an offence in Canada like manslaughter would likely be inadmissible."

At the end of the day, the theatre announced a news conference for Friday afternoon to explain its position.

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http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/canada/Theatre+sets+international+uproar+offering+role+killer+actress/4578227/story.html