If an alien landed in Quebec in 2023, we would make him watch (or read) Les Plouffe so he could understand the basics of modern Quebec society.
Published at 1:58 am. Updated at 11:00 a.m.
Both a realistic portrait of an era and a magnifying mirror of its shattered dreams, Les Plouffe accurately depicts the solidarity and betrayal surrounding the family clan. In small and large ways. The work of Roger Lemelin illustrates the desire for emancipation and freedom of a people “without culture”, “born for a little bread”, driven by their immense thirst for heroism. Like an epic that delves us deep into the soul of a people.
In addition to presenting touching, archetypal characters, Les Plouffe is a summary of the major struggles of French Canadians from the end of the Great Depression to the beginning of World War II: the first workers’ unions; the reaffirmation of Quebec nationalism; the rule of the clergy; cultural emancipation, etc. Roger Lemelin paved the way for Gélinas, Dubé and Tremblay.
Furthermore, as we attend the performance of Plouffe at the Théâtre Denise-Pelletier, 75 years after the novel’s publication, we ask ourselves: why did we wait so long to perform the work in the theater? !
It is finished. With this excellent adaptation by Isabelle Hubert (based on the book and screenplay by Gilles Carle), brilliantly directed by Maryse Lapierre, with a brilliant cast! This show is remarkable and the story hasn’t aged one bit.
PHOTO VICTOR DIAZ LAMICH, PROVIDED BY DENISE-PELLETIER THEATRE
Alice Moreault (Rita Toulouse) and Renaud Lacelle-Bourdon (Ovide Plouffe) in the theater adaptation of Plouffe
What a family!
The scene begins in 1938 in the Saint-Sauveur district of Quebec. As Europe prepares to enter war, the Plouffe family is torn apart… in a different way. Guillaume, the youngest, dreams of becoming an athlete in the USA. Ovide is torn between his faith, opera and his love for Rita Toulouse. Napoleon lives on hope and cycling. Cécile, the eldest, secretly loves a married man. Théophile, the father, fights against hypocrisy; while his wife Joséphine tries to preserve the family nest.
Maryse Lapierre’s direction crystallizes the social division of the state capital in the 1930s in a setting depicting the wooden stairs on the cliff of Cap Diamant. And that steep, anything but gentle slope that the Catholic working class must climb to get out of their situation and realize their dreams.
PHOTO VICTOR DIAZ LAMICH, PROVIDED BY DENISE-PELLETIER THEATRE
Ovide (Renaud Lacelle-Bourdon) is torn between his faith, opera and his love for Rita Toulouse.
The entire cast is remarkable! Let us mention the moving performance of Jean-Michel Girouard as Napoléon Plouffe; the nuanced and fair performance of Frédérique Bradet in Cécile Plouffe; the very sensitive Ovid by Renaud Lacelle-Bourdon; Roger Léger and Marie-Ginette Guay in the role of parents who ensure the balance of their family as best they can. Maxime Beauregard-Martin plays with finesse the young journalist Denis Boucher, Lemelin’s alter ego. Rarely have we seen such a well-staged cast of 14 actors on a large set.
PHOTO VICTOR DIAZ LAMICH, PROVIDED BY DENISE-PELLETIER THEATRE
Maxime Beauregard-Martin, Alex Godbout and Jean-Michel Girouard in Les Plouffe
There are several great staging ideas for this no-downtime show, which lasts 2 hours and 10 minutes, including the use of musicians and singers during the musical interludes; the iron part in two places; Ovide’s breakup letter to Rita Toulouse, which she turns into a baseball to throw to Stan Labrie.
Among all these staging ideas there is that of temporarily isolating Maman Plouffe in her kitchen, sitting at the table alone and terribly pensive… Marie-Ginette Guay movingly lets us hear “the noise of silence” of the mothers of families. These women who also gave birth to today’s Quebec.
The Plouffes
Based on the work of Roger Lemelin
Directed by Maryse Lapierre
With Édith Arvisais, Maxime Beauregard-Martin, Frédérique Bradet, Robin-Joël Cool, Vincent Fafard, Jacques Girard, Jean-Michel Girouard, Alex Godbout, Marie-Ginette Guay, Renaud Lacelle-Bourdon, Gaël Lane Lépine, Roger Léger, Alice Moreault and Mary Lee Picknell
At the Denise Pelletier Theater until October 21st