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<b>by Jean-Rock Gaudreault, directed by Jacinthe Potvin
Théâtre français de Toronto, Berkeley Street Theatre Upstairs, Toronto
February 27-March 8, 2009
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</b>Jean-Rock Gaudreault’s <i>Une maison face au nord</i> (“A North-Facing House”) is destined to become a classic of Canadian drama. It premiered in January this year in Jonquières, Gaudreault’s home town, and accomplishes that magic trick of so many great plays of transforming the specific into the universal, the ordinary into the extraordinary. On the surface the play is a bittersweet comedy about a couple growing old together in Chicoutimi, while in fact it is play about the state of the province of Quebec in particular, the state of Canada in general and more.
The first snow of the winter, early as usual in Chicoutimi, causes building contractor Henri Simard (Guy Mignault) and his wife Anne-Marie (Louisette Dussault) to reflect on their lives. Their three children have long since left home but barely stay in contact. That their two daughters in Montreal are more interested in material gain than in having children is depressing enough, but then news arrives that their son Stéphane (Éric Chalifour), an investment banker in Boston, is involved in a massive financial scandal. Meanwhile, Henri notes that “foreigners” have started to move into town. He has just hired a Guatemalan immigrant Henriquez (Marcelo Arroyo), and Larry (A. J. Henderson), a widower about Henri’s age and son of Polish immigrants, has begun to frequent Henri’s private refuge. This situation, simple in itself, allows Gaudreault to address such questions as the dying out of Quebec’s so-called “Vieille Souche,” the depopulation of rural Canada and the impact of immigration and xenophobia. In its guise as a droll comedy of manners, Gaudreault’s play dares to ask what forms the basis of a cultural identity and what makes people believe they belong to a particular family or piece of earth. No recourse to preaching or allegory is needed. Gaudreault merely allows the situation he has created to gain incrementally in resonance.
It helps that the cast and direction are flawless. Mignault is simply wonderful as a die-hard separatist who realizes he will never see his dream come to pass. The gradual melting of his prejudices as he gets to know Henriquez and Larry is as moving as it is comic. Dussault is a joy to watch--strong when Henri falls into his moods and when chastising Stéphane, weak with happiness when baby-sitting Henriquez’s children. The setting may be rural Quebec, but the implications of Gaudreault’s play are universal and deserve the widest possible audience.
©Christopher Hoile
Note: A version of this review appeared in <i>Eye Weekly</i> 2009-03-04.
Photo: Guy Mignault and A.J. Henderson. ©Rocket Lavoie.
<b>2009-03-04</b>
<b>Une maison face au nord</b>