by AMY BARRATT

With Bye Bye Baby, Imago Theatre reclaims its rightful place among the most important English companies in Montreal. Maybe that "English" qualifier isn't even necessary; this production could hold its own in the much more populous terrain of French theatre, and deserves the attention of the French-language critics (hint hint).

Bye Bye Baby, currently running at the Monument-National, is a show by, for and about women. And hallelujah for that! I can't tell you how many "guy" shows I've sat through in seven years at this job. I don't complain about it because some of them are very good. By the same token, it would be a shame if Bye Bye Baby got written off as a "chick" show, because it's one of the finest pieces of theatre we're likely to see this season.

"Inspired" by Elyse Gasco's book of stories Can You Wave Bye Bye Baby?, the play has gone beyond adaptation to become an original work in its own right. The stories, which deal with adoption from various viewpoints, were mostly written before Gasco undertook the search for her own birth mother. The play, on the other hand, is structured by that search.

Alison Darcy - as always, a joy to watch - plays Elle, a young woman whose own unplanned pregnancy spurs her to search for her origins. She leads a cast of five unique and complementary talents. Leni Parker - back from Toronto, it seems, for good - plays Elle's prim and proper adoptive mother ("I come from another time. I had a drawer full of gloves.").

France Rolland is striking as always in the difficult role of Elle's alternate self: the one who gives voice to her less polite thoughts. Dancer Margie Gillis plays another shadow figure, that of the unknown birth mother. As beautiful as ever, still sporting the hip-length hair that is her trademark, Gillis proves she can act as well as she dances in her first theatrical appearance. In a cast as strong as this one, Felicia Shulman nearly steals the show with her portrayal of the social worker assigned to Elle's file.

The play calls on the actors to explore different acting styles in scenes that range from kitchen-sink naturalism to loopy surrealism. The book had a dark sense of humour but the play is more overtly funny, at times even light, such as when Elle fantasizes about Joni Mitchell being her mother. It even has a political dimension in its questioning of the closed adoption system, which still rules in Quebec.

Clare Shapiro, who steered the play through every step of its development and directs this production, suggests (in her program notes) that "issues of identity and separation are particularly pertinent to our belle province." I think the play's universality is simply to be found in its exploration of family ties. Anyone who's lived through adolescence knows that "Who am I?" and "Where did I come from?" are not simple questions, even if we do know our biological parents.

The recurring image in the play of a woman sitting on a toilet may be offensive to some, but I think Gasco and co. are really on to something here. A woman's fertility or lack thereof may be relevant in the bedroom, but it is in the bathroom that she is most keenly aware of it, whether tampon-ing herself, holding a pregnancy test in a "steady stream" of pee or, God forbid, wielding a coat hanger.

Bye Bye Baby is terrific work. See it for yourself.

Bye Bye Baby, to Nov. 20 at Studio Space, Monument-National (1152 St-Laurent), 871-2224

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