Tremblay with excitement

>> Lotsa women on the roster for Centaur next season

by AMY BARRATT

First, the good news. Next fall, Centaur Theatre will follow up this season's The Orphan Muses by Michel Marc Bouchard with yet another Québécois play in translation. Not just any Québécois play either, but a Michel Tremblay. And not just any Tremblay, but the latest: a tribute to his mother titled For the Pleasure of Seeing Her Again. Unlike The Orphan Muses, which had to wait almost 10 years for its English-language Quebec premiere, For the Pleasure will open just weeks after the French version (Encore une fois si vous le permettez) premieres at Théâtre du Rideau Vert. Linda Gaboriau, who did such a brilliant translation of the Bouchard play, has been entrusted with this one as well.

So far so good. The only possible fly in the pouding chômeur is that Centaur head honcho Gordon McCall has lined himself up to direct. Think back: what was the matter with The Orphan Muses? It was directed and acted by non-Quebecers and therefore, despite Gaboriau's efforts, lost almost all sense of place. So there was McCall at Centaur's press conference last week admitting that his French--though he is working on it--wasn't good enough to read the play in the original. Not a good sign.

There's still hope if McCall has the sense to cast it with local actors--maybe even francophones. Do a Tremblay play in Saskatoon, and you can make the characters into anglos; do it in Montreal and they have to be francophones who just happen to be speaking English. I wouldn't mind big, thick accents.

Also in the season, which is Centaur's 30th, will be two world premieres of plays by two local women playwrights. This year's playwright in residence, Kit Brennan, will see her play, Having, produced at Centaur next February. The final play in the '98-'99 season will be Very Heaven, by Ann Lambert. A love story with a twist, set in the Eastern Townships, the play features--as Lambert pointed out--not one but several roles for actresses over 35. "I can't believe it," said Lambert. "I'm very pleased to see so many women up on the roster this year."

Another female-authored play in the lineup is How I Learned to Drive, the off-Broadway hit by American Paula Vogel. This twisted, hilarious piece of social commentary was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama just last week. As well, eminent Irish director Ben Barnes will direct Beckett's Waiting for Godot next March.

The first production ever mounted at the Centaur was The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie. In celebration of surviving 30 years (and perhaps in the hope that Centaur is just entering its prime), the company will again present the tale of the outrageous private school teacher who makes a lasting impression on her "little girrrrrels" next January. Attention female Cegep students who can still pass for 12: start working on your Scottish accents now! Centaur will be holding general auditions for the season for Montreal actors in late May and early June of this year.

Meanwhile, Season 29 is hurtling towards its conclusion with High Life closing this weekend, and the final offering, Angels in America, Part Two: Perestroika, directed by Gordon McCall, opening May 7th.

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Congratulations to The Vestibules (formerly Radio Free Vestibule), who have landed a 13-week radio series on CBC. The shows, which begin airing in June, will be taped live at Comedyworks (1238 Bishop) starting this Sunday, April 26th at 7:30 p.m. Subsequent tapings follow every second Sunday into July. Admission is FREE.

With a name like Mr. Winkie Productions, how can they go wrong? Mitch Michaels and Andy Pellatt of CIQC are bringing live comedy to the Plateau with weekly shows at the Wax Lounge (3481 St. Laurent). Mr. Winkie's Comedy Now! gets started at 9 p.m. Sundays and costs just $5. Excerpts from the shows can also be heard on CIQC's Friday Nite Entertainment Roundup (10-11 p.m. on AM600), hosted by Pellatt, Michaels and Janis Kirshner, whose comedy duo Titters (with Laura Mitchell) has been known to show up at the Wax Lounge on occasion.

A very happy birthday to William Shakespeare: 434 years young! (Will was born sometime in April 1564, and since he's known to have died on April 23, 1616, that date has also been adopted as his birth date.) The mead's on me.