Reviews 2001
Reviews 2001
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by Michel Tremblay, translated by Martin Bowman & Bill Findley, directed by Wendy Thatcher
Shockalot Productions, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Toronto
March 16-25, 2001
“Joual Into Scots”
Michel Tremblay’s 1973 play “Hosanna” about a Montreal hairdresser who idolizes Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra has proved remarkable durable. A particular test of this durability is the current production at Tallulah’s Cabaret in the Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. This is the Canadian première of the Scottish translation of the play done by Martin Bowman and Bill Findlay. The same duo’s 1988 translation of Tremblay’s “Les Belles Soeurs” as “The Guid Sisters” was a big hit at the du Maurier World Theatre Festival in 1990.
My first reaction was panic that I would not be able to understand a single word. But soon the ear adjusts and the alien accent and vocabulary become enjoyable instead of off-putting. Still, it has to be said that I more often got the gist of what was said rather than picking up every word. The small glossary provided in the programme is little aid against the full onslaught of colourful Scots expressions. Luckily, the benefits of this new translation far outweigh the difficulties it poses. Just as “joual” is a dialect of French so is Scots a dialect of English. This gives the language greater authenticity than performing the work in Ontarian English or in English with a Québecois accent. From a political point of view, Scots and “joual” are both linked to a national identity subsumed with a larger political entity, and are thus further linked to the separatist movements in both regions. And most of all, the Scots translation provides the experience of characters with their own linguistic integrity which is simultaneously similar to but definitely different than that of an ordinary English-speaking audience. Perhaps that is why the duo’s continuing translations of Tremblay have been so popular in Scotland, where one critic has called Tremblay “the greatest playwright Scotland never had”.
Alastair Hudson as Hosanna and Tony Nappo as his/her biker boyfriend Cuirette give excellent performances. A Glasgow native, Hudson has perhaps an easier time of it than Nappo, but only the occasional slip of a vowel suggests that this is not Nappo’s native lingo. At first Hudson’s Hosanna is so unpleasant in looks and personality, one wonders how he will ever win over the audience’s sympathy. But this he does. He makes Hosanna’s initial harshness a sign of his barely suppressed anger and humiliation. The harshness is necessary to explain why all of Hosanna’s supposed friends would single her out for such a cruel joke at the Hallowe’en ball. Hudson delivers Hosanna’s long monologue of Act 2 so expertly, one wishes that Cuirette’s speeches did not overlap with it. Hudson communicates Hosanna’s unreconciled feelings of rage and vulnerability with great feeling laced with a tone of bitter self-mockery.
Tony Nappo also shows us clearly the anger of his having betrayed Hosanna projected onto other things. Just because he is unaccustomed to identifying or articulating his feelings doesn’t mean he doesn’t have them. Nappo, like Hudson, is excellent at communicating surface and subtext at the same time. Cuirette struggles to forsake the toughness of his leatherman pose to reveal real caring and love for his partner.
Wendy Thatcher, best known as a veteran actress of the Shaw Festival, shows she is also a fine director. She makes the parallels between Hosanna and Cuirette very clear—both characters having constructed a persona that has begun to clash with the real person within. When both Cuirette and Hosanna disrobe, it is clear that they are discarding their personae along with the costumes that having in numerous ways become prisons for their inner selves. Thatcher gives us the uplifting sense that both characters have moved to a state of unknown but greater freedom.
David Wootton’s sets and costumes are intentionally tawdry. They reflect the inhabitant who has little money and no space to achieve the grandiose effects he would like. The load of bric-a-brac Wootton crams on the small stage is the physical equivalent of the overpowering cheap perfume said to pervade Hosanna’s apartment. He shows a place ripe for airing and clearing out. Wootton makes Hudson as Hosanna-as-Taylor-as-Cleopatra look really quite dreadful which better suits what is actually described in the play. Richard Monette actually made quite a passable Elizabeth Taylor in 1974. Alastair Hudson in Wootton’s gaudy oversized gown looks more like Monserrat Caballé with too much make-up. As with the set the costume suggests that the time has come to discard a now-pointless illusion. All is lit by Jeff Logue, who has achieved a maximum number of sensitive lighting effects with a minimum number of instruments.
It is a pity that this production playing in such an intimate space (only 75 seats) should have such a short run. It deserves a wider audience. Alastair Hudson’s transformation at the end from Taylor-as-Cleopatra to Hosanna to his real self is quite amazing. As Hallowe’en passes into All Saints’ Day, an ordinary, nice-looking young man emerges into the world from his garish cocoon.
©Christopher Hoile
Photo: Alastair Hudson.
2001-04-01
Hosanna