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>> Weak script stalls Maudite machine at Théâtre du Rideau Vert

by AMY BARRATT

It is appropriate that Maudite machine has opened in August, since--in spite of being presented in the city instead of the boonies--it displays several of the characteristics of "théâtre d'été." It is short (75 minutes); it has a small cast (one woman); it has a simple premise, and is not too mentally taxing. In fact, the play did have a little tournée last summer and an engagement in the theatrical Mecca of Trois-Pistoles.

A pre-season offering at Théâtre du Rideau Vert, Maudite machine was written for actress Nicole Leblanc by playwright Abla Farhoud (Jeux de patience, Quand le vautour danse). The character, Sonia Bélanger, was one that Leblanc had played in Farhoud's Les rues de l'alligator in '98 at La Licorne, a character she liked so much that she encouraged the playwright to write more about her.

We do learn a good deal about Sonia in this play; we're just not sure what to do with it. Actresses in future productions of Les rues de l'alligator will undoubtedly turn to Maudite machine for "backstory" on the character of Sonia--but is it a play in its own right? That's the question.

Sonia had a happy Ukrainian grandmother and a depressed mother. She fell in love with the boss's son at 17, married a boor some time later and gave him two sons. At the time of the play she is about 60 years old, has left her husband and found a caring and wonderful lover named Antoine. She has also recently been in a car accident that has left her with a bum knee.

As structuring devices, Farhoud gives us a letter and a cat. Several times in the course of the play, Sonia exits through the only door in the set, usually to let her cat in or out. The cat, though uncredited, is a real pro, always in place for his entrances and marvellously open to whatever his human co-star does; he allows himself to be sung to, danced with, and generally manhandled without so much as a meow. Usually, when Sonia re-enters, there is a lighting change and time has passed. There ought to be a way to do this story without any exits.

The unopened letter as a source of tension just screams "writing workshop." The play is a rambling monologue that couldn't hold an audience's attention if it weren't for the mystery of that letter that arrives early in the action and that Sonia is afraid to open. Maudite machine is more of a character sketch than a play. That would be okay if the character really grabbed you, but this play was uncomfortably reminiscent of having somebody sit down next to you in the metro and tell you their life story.

This production doesn't do the weak script any favours. The set consists of a couple of flats and an armchair; video projections, though pretty, do not seem like an organic part of the production. Director Louise Laprade has blocked the piece so that Leblanc is in profile to the audience about three-quarters of the time. (A chunk of the remaining time has her delivering her lines upstage.) This is an incomprehensible decision in a play whose only hope is making an emotional connection with the audience.

Maudite machine, to Sept. 16, 8pm at Théâtre du Rideau Vert, $28-$38