For more than 30 years, Sylvie Moreau has played numerous roles on television, stage and cinema, but oddly she had never appeared in a summer theater play. It’s ready now that we’ve found it Yannicko’s kitchen at the Theater du Vieux-Terrebonne.
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This comedy also stars Bobby Beshro, France Parent, Joanie Guérin, Claude Tremblay and Émile Dufour. “The fact that it was a creation by Quebec’s Pierre Huet and Louis Saia was extremely appealing. Louis Saia is someone I’ve always admired. I knew he was a good actor director, so I was very excited about his proposal. It wasn’t long before I said yes, even though I’d never really done summer theater before. “Everything was right: the circumstances, the time frame, the companions, it was an offer I couldn’t refuse,” she confirms.
THE PLEASURE OF REACTIONS
For a variety of reasons, the actress has never been able to take part in a summer production in the course of her career. “I very often shot in films or series in the hot season, which made everything impossible. If we decide to play in the summer, it’s difficult to do anything else. It’s quite a demanding schedule, but what’s fun this year is that it’s not far from my home in the country. So for me it was perfect.”
The writers of ‘Symphorien’, which hit the same venue last summer, used their imaginations to entertain audiences. “It’s a show written to make people react and laugh. Obviously I knew that very well when I made Catherine and we played in front of an audience. The same goes for the Madame Lebrun series, not counting all my years of improvising in front of an audience. Having viewers in front of me and doing a show that gets instant response is something I really like. Compared to the more dramatic theatre, it’s another hype. It’s really nice when you laugh or react immediately to a phrase you say.
A ROOM FULL OF CHARACTERS
The action of “La Cuisine de Yannicko” takes place, you guessed it, in a kitchen, more precisely on the film set of a show like the one we’ve seen so many times before. “The intelligence of Pierre Huet and Louis Saia was to target the kind of archetypes of characters that we find in this kind of profession: firstly the person hosting the show, and also everyone who cares about it, like the set designer, the director, the producer and the make-up artist.” It’s a great place to find a lot of very colorful and different characters and of course to exaggerate the character traits like any good comedy. Cooking shows were so popular during the pandemic — I think these two guys listened a lot too — that they came up with the idea of doing a theater show with a cooking show. On stage there is a very nice use of video images captured by director Pierre Séguin (the director of La petite vie).
What happens on stage and on screen gives this production something very special. Sylvie Moreau plays Yannicko’s show’s producer, Vanessa Poitras, and as she so aptly puts it, the idea is that viewers like to hate her. “She’s an honest, ambitious woman who is the new producer and wants to make a name for herself. She’s also trying to get her son to be the bartender on the cooking show, which will cause some chaos throughout the production. His son is a very strong character, played by Émile Dufour, a funny little prodigy, which made for a really extraordinary encounter for me. This character is important in the play, as is of course Yannicko (Bobby Beshro), who carries the whole story within himself. In total, there are no fewer than 14 characters that viewers can get to know as part of this production.
FROM PLAY TO TEACHING
In addition to this play, we can see Sylvie in the second season of the television series L’air d’aller, broadcast on Télé-Québec, in which she plays the mother of Antoine Olivier Pilon. “In Season 2, the four main characters continue to develop. The series is still so well written and well designed that it’s fun to play. I love Antoine Olivier Pilon and the director Sarah Pellerin. As with La Cuisine de Yannicko, this is a very strong and very enjoyable group to work with. We can say that Sylvie Moreau has quite a busy schedule as she has also become a teacher, to the delight of young people who have the chance to study with this veteran actress who has been one of the LNI’s standouts. “I have taught at the National Theater School and also at UQAM for four years. It’s something I really enjoy doing and it allows me to be closer to a new practice and young people and how they think about creating and the profession. I have the chance to give the improvisation class, which is a creation class. I have even more access to their imagination, their thoughts and their opinions. This also feeds me enormously in my job.
BACK ON THE BIG SCREEN
Throughout her career, Sylvie has of course made films. We can also see her this fall in the film Tell Me Why These Things Are So Beautiful, directed by Lyne Charlebois and starring Alexandre Goyette as Marie-Victorin’s brother. “I shot this film last fall. I was very happy to get back into cinema, a medium I really like and it’s a very good production. (Editor’s note: the last time we saw her on the big screen was in 2009’s Ready…Party! 2.) I like cinema, where you take your time, more than TV.
It was a very nice experience playing the role of a nun who is actually Brother Marie-Victorin’s sister. While very emancipated for the time, she actually represents the strictest and most traditional values of the Catholic religion. In this film we will also see Mylène Mackay, Rachel Graton, Marianne Farley and Vincent Graton, among others. As for the possibility that she’ll reprise her role as Valence Leclerc in a third comedy film, In a Galaxy Near You – the first hit theaters in 2004 and the second in 2008 – let’s say it smells good! “Maybe,” she says. The rumors have been around for a very long time, but I would tell you that the rumors are getting closer and closer to reality.
The room Yannicko’s kitchen will be performed at the Théâtre du Vieux-Terrebonne until August 6th. theatreduvieuxterrebonne.com
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