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More time travelling >>Quebec of yesteryear by AMY BARRATT
The Quebec it portrays is an insular, pre-Bill 101 society, where a young man who has traveled to Europe is greeted on his return with the kind of awe usually reserved for astronauts. The decision to not try to update the play to the '90s was a good one. While it would be easy to change "Dorchester" to "René-Lévesque," other more serious anachronisms would remain. Even at the time the play was written--at the height of the second wave of feminism--the women characters in it were rapidly becoming dinosaurs. With Bonjour, là, bonjour, Tremblay envisioned all the stock harpies and harridans of the world stage being given a final, glorious curtain call. It's in this context that we have to read the two nagging old aunts and three overbearing, manipulative sisters in Bonjour. The costume shop at Duceppe has ensured that each of these five makes a distinct impression, particularly the eldest sister, Lucienne (Marthe Turgeon), with her hair out of Star Trek and a face out of Mme. Tussaud's; and Denise, the fat sister (played by not-so-fat actress Suzanne Champagne) with an orange bow in her frizzy hair and an outfit borrowed from The Drew Carey Show's Mimi. Director André Brassard, who next to Michel Tremblay is probably the person most closely acquainted with Tremblay's work. Brassard directed the very first production of Bonjour, in 1974, as well as several since. The central image of this production, a gi-normous dinner table, was originally conceived by Brassard for one of those earlier stagings. Its reappearance here heightens the sense that this is less cutting-edge theatre than reverential homage, but the concept is so good that Tremblay probably wishes he'd thought of it. Brassard's relatively simple staging demonstrates that the actors need not be physically segregated in order for the audience to understand that they are meant to be in different places. Most importantly, what this production shows off to great advantage is the text itself: with snatches of dialogue interwoven and repeated like musical themes, Bonjour, là, bonjour is a joual symphony. Even with a thin layer of dust on it, the inner light of Tremblay's work shines through. Bonjour, là, bonjour at the Théâtre Jean-Duceppe of Place des Arts; until October 18.
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Michel Tremblay is considered a great contemporary Québécois playwright, so it's a bit shocking to realize that his Bonjour, là, bonjour, currently playing at Théâtre Jean-Duceppe, has become a period piece.