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by Alfred de Musset, directed by Diana Leblanc

Théâtre français de Toronto, Berkeley Street Theatre Upstairs, Toronto

October 24-November 8, 2008

On ne badine pas avec l’amour (sometimes translated as No Trifling with Love) by Alfred de Musset (1810-57) is one of the masterpieces of French drama.  In francophone countries Musset is considered one of the three “M”s of French comedy along with Molière and Marivaux, while in anglophone countries he is seldom staged.  This may be because Musset specialized in writing comedies with unhappy endings.  Given that Chekhov labelled such devastating works as The Seagull and Three Sisters as “comedies,” we should see Musset as an important precursor to his work and a fascinating dramatist in his own right.  Kudos to Théâtre français de Toronto for bringing us this great work in such a superb production. 

The 1834 play inverts the standard comic formula in which the older generation obstructs marriages among the younger.  Perdican (Nicolas Van Burek), a baron’s son, and Camille (Julie Le Gal) the baron’s niece, have loved each other since childhood.  The Baron (Raymond Accolas) assumes that when they meet after their years of separate schooling they will marry.  Here, however, the pride of the younger generation frustrates the hopes of the older.  Camille’s convent education has led her to believe all men are cads, while Perdican’s life away in Paris has led to several affairs.  To test Camille’s unexpected coldness, he begins a fling with a peasant girl Rosette (Mélanie Beauchamp).  This only complicates matters.  In Musset’s world, happiness for some comes only at the price of unhappiness for others.    

Van Burek is excellent in conveying the vexation of a young, worldly man whose childhood friend has so much changed.  Director Diana Leblanc seems to have directed the play from Perdican’s point of view so that, confusingly, Le Gal’s Camille is as enigmatic to us at first as she is to Perdican.  Beauchamp perfectly conjures up Rosette’s innocence and fragility.  In a brilliant stroke living legend Viola Léger, costumed as Watteau’s Pierrot, plays Musset’s Chorus and lends every phrase a note of melancholy irony.  Yannik Larivée’s ingenious set consists of translucent screens--sometimes opaque, sometimes not--depending Steve Lucas’s lighting and projections of classic paintings.  This echoes the play’s fundamentally existential theme of the inability of individuals ever to understand each other fully.  This is a play every theatre-lover should get to know.  Such an insightful production as this makes one hope TfT will bring us more Musset in future seasons. 

©Christopher Hoile

Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2008-10-27.

Photo: Nicolas Van Burek and Julie Le Gal.