Casting the vote

>> Novembre documents the province's recent past

by AMY BARRATT

It has received precious little coverage, but there's something new and exciting going on at the Monument-National through this weekend. Novembre, billed as "documentary theatre" is the most important political play this city has seen since Rahul Varma's Counter Offence. Novembre is a distillation of interviews conducted throughout Quebec by Annabel Soutar and Alex Ivanovici in November, 1998. That, you may recall, was the month of the shortest election campaign in recent history, when Jean Charest's Liberals failed to oust the Parti Quebecois in spite of winning a greater share of the popular vote. Anyway, calling themselves Projet Porte-Parole, Soutar and Ivanovici toured Quebec during that month and asked people about their relationship to government.

 It sounds like it would make for dry theatre, especially when you read some of the official questions--How does your voice contribute to our provincial democracy? Who is defining the terms of political discussion in Quebec?--but nothing could be further from the truth.

 There is no playwright per se on Novembre, since all the dialogue is drawn directly from interviews. However, someone had to pick and choose and shape hours and hours of tape into a performance. Credit for that goes to Soutar. Her own description of the piece as a "photograph" of a moment in Quebec history is apt. Language, of course, is a hot topic, but what emerges even more is a deep disenchantment with and distrustful of all levels of government. Two unrelated interviewees whisper to the interviewers that they sympathize with Denis Lortie, the man who went on a shooting rampage in the National Assembly in 1984, and killed three people. Some of these people are way beyond bickering about federalism versus sovereignty: they sound like nothing short of revolution will do.

 Soutar, and Ivanovici, who directed the cast of 16, have not let themselves forget to make good theatre, despite the "documentary" nature of the project. Peter A.G. Roper's vertical set, featuring actors trapped inside boxes, is magnificent. A wall of bare branches and actual rain falling evokes the dreary time of year. The actors, most of whom play multiple roles, are excellent.

 This is thought-provoking, deeply relevant stuff. And there's a good deal of humour in it too. One of the major theatres (French or English) should pick up Novembre for next season. The Saidye, already equipped for simultaneous translation because of Yiddish theatre, could be the ideal spot. :

 

Novembre, at the Theatre du Maurier of the Monument-National, at 8:30pm, continues to Feb. 5, 871-2224. Tickets $26 regular, $20 reduced