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<b>by Louis Calaferte, directed by John Van Burek
Théâtre français de Toronto, Berkeley Street Theatre Upstairs, Toronto
February 15-March 2, 2002
</b>
"Banal Satire or Satire of Banality?"
Though the plays of poet and painter Louis Calaferte (1928-1994) have been popular and highly acclaimed in France since the 1970s, they are virtually unknown in North America. To remedy this situation the Théâtre français de Toronto is presenting the first production of any play by Calaferte in Canada. Director John Van Burek has chosen one of the playwright's later works "Les Derniers Devoirs" ("Last Rites"), one of Calaferte's works that Comédie Française in Paris has produced. Now and then one catches glimpses of what might have attracted Van Burek to this play and the French to Calaferte, but the overall impression is of an incredibly insubstantial piece of theatre. Only hindsight suggests that there might be more to "Les Derniers Devoirs" than the production has brought out.
This impression comes from both a difference in how the French and Canadians approach comedy and from a deficiency in the production itself. The 75-minute play shows a typical French bourgeois family, Henri, Juliette and their daughter Sylvie, as they prepare for the funeral of the mother's father who died two weeks ago and is now laid out in the front room of their apartment. The conversation is utterly banal. There are no jokes per se, no one-liners, gags, put-downs, or exaggerations that would signal to a North American audience that this is a satire or even a comedy. Large swaths of conversation are taken up with "What do I wear?", "Where is it?", "How do I look?", "Who is coming over after the funeral?", "Did you buy enough food for the guests?", "What did you buy?", "Where is it?", and so on on a mind-numbingly though realistically trivial plane. I frequently asked myself what the point of all this could be other than depicting a slice of life until the surprise of the play's final line put everything into perspective making clear the play is indeed a satire.
While I won't reveal the final line, I can say that the play is built on the tension in the family, felt most keenly by Juliette, of trying to make the day of her father's funeral a consecrated time to which all things mundane and irreverent must at least for one day be obliterated. The comedy derives from the difficulty the family has in keeping even 75 minutes sacrosanct much less an entire day. The point of Calaferte's satire is that the lives of his typical bourgeois family are so steeped in trivialities that even a death cannot shake them from their preoccupation with minutiae. In France Calaferte is famed for satire that is as trenchant as it is subtle. One reviewer of his collected plays calls him a "Virulent portraitiste des vies minuscules". It is very likely that for cis-Atlantic dwellers like us this satire is far too subtle. Yet, once you catch on to what Calaferte is doing, which may be only after the play is over, then you can see how devastating his critique of the bourgeoisie actually is.
Difficulty in cluing in to Calaferte's brand of satire is one problem with "Les Derniers Devoirs". The other is the miscasting of the central character of the play, Juliette. It is her father who has died, it is she who is most insistent that the family change their mode of behaviour for at least this one day and it is she who reads signs of disrespect for the dead into whatever Henri and Sylvie happen to say or do. Deborah Grover does not have the presence or command to bring the role off. Not being word-perfect further undermines her portrayal. Grover is good at communicating Juliette's fragility, but we would have a greater indication of the play's satiric bent if she had made clear that Juliette's fragility were not her nature but an affectation. Indeed, another actor could have made clear that nearly everything Juliette says is affectation. Without an authoritative performance at its centre much of the play loses its point.
TfT Artistic Director Guy Mignault as Henri and newcomer Kim Bubbs as Sylvie gives us glimpse of what the show might have been. Mignault is a masterful comic actor, his timing is impeccable and he knows how to give Henri just the right satiric edge without descending to caricature. Bubbs is a delightful presence throughout even though she plays her character straight without the slight satiric spin of Mignault.
The main sign that the play is a comedy is Glen Charles Landry's handsome set with five doors placing Calaferte's mundane dialogue within a structure associated with farce. His lighting remains naturalistic except for that important final line. Nina Okens's attractive costumes are key in indicating the family's status ands obsession with appearance.
It's not surprising that John Van Burek, whose Pleiades Theatre has brought Toronto audiences a series of Marivaux plays, should be interested bringing us the work of another subtle French playwright. Given the plainness of Calaferte's dialogue, its humour can come out only through the manner of its delivery. It may well be that here Van Burek has been over-subtle himself since his naturalistic direction does not give enough point to Calaferte's satiric intent.
I do hope the TfT's experiment with Calaferte leads to the production of another of his 22 plays. Only then will the troupe and the audience gain more experience in coping with a playwright whose modus operandi is so different from what we think of as satire. If this production does not wholly satisfy, it does pique one's curiosity about this unusual writer.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: This review is a <i>Stage Door</i> exclusive.
Photo: Louis Calaferte. ©2010 Lire Aujourd’hui.
<b> 2002-02-20</b>
<b>Les Derniers Devoirs</b>