The National Battlefields Commission (NBC) has renewed its partnership for a tenth year with the theatrical performance Sur les traces de La Corrivaux. It has also announced that it will loan a sculpture of Marie-Joseph Corrivaux for an indefinite period. Made by Jérôme Trudelle, the work of art is part of the exhibition Aeria, which is being presented at the Plains of Abraham Museum until January 7, 2024. It will then be sent to the Marie-Joseph Corrivaux library in Saint-Vallier, where it can be viewed by the general public.
In 2013, the NBC started up an organized activity to commemorate the tragic 250th anniversary of the hanging of Marie-Joseph Corrivaux. The activity was then adapted at the request of Saint-Vallier residents, thus becoming the theatrical performance that has played ever since to sold-out audiences. With a cast composed largely of people from the municipality, it is an annual must-see that the NBC is still proud to be associated with. Some of the NBC staff have taken care of its staging and logistics or are part of its cast.
As the organization responsible for the Plains of Abraham, where Marie-Joseph Corrivaux was hanged, the NBC feels it is important to tell the true and tragic story of this woman who was found guilty of murdering her second husband. The theatrical performance is thus an opportunity to separate history from legend. The same aim is likewise achieved by the exhibition Aeria through its nuanced depiction of Marie-Joseph Corrivaux facing her soon-to-be orphaned children. The loaned sculpture, skilfully designed in cardboard via photogrammetry, strikingly evokes the memory of this person who has left her mark on history.
