Michel Tremblay’s 80th birthday is the perfect occasion to celebrate his rich dramatic body of work in a 90-minute special put together by his heirs, René Richard Cyr and Serge Boucher, whom Tremblay affectionately calls ‘his children’.
“Michel Tremblay in Eighty Times”, an appointment that will take place on Saturday 4 Landry), Carmen (Marilyn Castonguay), Cuirette (Hubert Proulx), The Duchess of Langeais (Laurent Paquin), Hosanna (Benoit McGinnis), Lise Paquette ( Charlie Monty), Marcel (Tommy Joubert), Marie-Lou (Éveline Gélinas), Nana (Kathleen Fortin), Serge (Émile Ouellette), Thérèse (Léane Labrèche-Dor) and Tremblay’s alter ego Jean-Marc (Gilles Renaud), the can be found in ‘Cher Tchekhov’, his latest theatrical creation.
These actors echo dialogue from Tremblay, who spent his life exploring the souls of ordinary people like a sociologist, but also defending colorful characters who simply wanted to live, exist, break free.
Photo courtesy of Eric Myre
“I never thought of that, sociologist! But yes, all writers are there because we are there to study, to try to understand what is going on in other people’s minds. […] I talked about characters that interested me, like transvestites. Above all, I tried to understand. It interested me to talk about people that we are actually ashamed of,” said Michel Tremblay in an interview with the agency QMI.
We sometimes find ourselves in a club on the Main, on the stage or on the plateau in this proposal from Productions Déferlantes directed by René Richard Cyr. The latter, together with Serge Boucher, adapted and selected the lyrics and retained songs by Brigitte Boisjoli and Ariane Moffatt.
“I think it’s a great gift. It’s an anthology of the best monologues I’ve written in my life, all performed by fabulous actors, so I cried a lot watching the show,” said Michel Tremblay, adding that he believes his plays remain relevant “because of their humanity”.
Sorting was difficult, one suspects, the playwright has been a tireless creator since the 1960s, with 41 plays – translated into more than 40 languages - on his roadmap, 39 novels and autobiographical stories, four films, two musicals, a soap opera, an opera and several songs.
This colossal production surprises even Tremblay, who admits that his characters have often served as shields to “live adventures I have forbidden myself to live”.
“I find it very hard to believe that I’ve done so much. I blame it on my pig head and because nothing can stop me from working.
Photo courtesy of Eric Myre
The pride of the game
Michel Tremblay was only 23 when he wrote Les belles-soeurs in 1965, the classic that revolutionized Montreal’s bourgeois theater milieu by bringing the Quebec language, Joual, to the stage. He’s proud to have been the first to use “the real words” of people in the spotlight.
He was resting by his pool in Key West, Fla. – as he has been for 32 years – when we spoke to him on Thursday. He had just returned from a brief week-long stay in New York, where he attended several performances including Richard Wagner’s Lohengrin at the Metropolitan Opera, directed by François Girard and conducted by Yannick Nézet-Séguin.
The “Happy 80s”
He says he is in good health and has the “happy 80 years” but misses the late director André Brassard, his accomplice, who died last October. “We lose more and more people as we get older. Not only do I have to think about those who left, but I also have to think that it will happen to me at some point.
But retirement didn’t sound so much. During the sabbatical he took to celebrate his 80th birthday, Michel Tremblay couldn’t resist getting back to work adapting Luigi Pirandello’s “Six Characters in Search of an Author” to the Quebec sauce. Soon he will take up pen to work on a new play.