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written by Michel Tremblay, directed by Diana Leblanc Théâtre français de Toronto, Berkeley Street Theatre Upstairs, Toronto

April 30-May 15, 2010

Théâtre français de Toronto is currently presenting the Toronto premiere of Michel Tremblay’s latest play, Fragments de mensonges inutiles (“Fragments of Useless Lies”).  In form, Fragments is one of the most innovate works Tremblay has written for some time.  In content, it proves to be as soft-centred as many of Tremblay’s more recent work and settles for a far more superficial conclusion than we were expecting.

Fragments concerns the love of two 16-year-old schoolboys, Jean-Marc (Michel Séguin) and Manu (Jean-Simon Traversy).  Tremblay’s twist is that Jean-Marc and his family live in 1957, while Manu and his live in 2007.  Their affection for each other has become so obvious that they have been called to the principal’s office to see a priest (Christian Laurin) in 1957 and a psychologist (Olivier L’Écuyer) in 2007.  After the meeting Manu breaks off with Jean-Marc claiming Jean-Marc is too “romantic,” whereas, in fact, Manu is the more romantic and breaks with Jean-Marc because he would die if Jean-Marc broke with him.  Rather than pursuing more fully the two boys’ views of love, Tremblay turns the play instead into a mild satire of the mores of both time periods.  In 1957 the priest is both frightening and naive in his determination to root out the boys’ sin through beatings.  In 2007 the psychologist’s view of helping Manu to understand his feelings seems ineffectual.  Of Jean-Marc’s parents, the mother (Marie-Hélène Fontaine) is the strong one who will stand by her son no matter what, while Manu’s mother (Gisèle Rousseau), who prides herself on her liberalism, discovers she is not so accepting when her own son comes out.                

If one can admire a play purely for its structure, Fragments is fascinating.  Tremblay uses the speeches like music, having characters speak their monologues sometimes antiphonally, sometimes simultaneously, and has dialogues between speakers cleverly echo each other.  Director Diana Leblanc masterfully conveys the play’s formal beauty.  One might have thought that Tremblay had created this structure to explore the existential aloneless of all individuals, even those who claim to love.  His theme, however, is merely the cliché that “the more things change, the more they stay the same.”  Of the two boys Séguin may speak of emotion but shows hardly any, whereas the sympathetic Traversy involves us in his plight from the beginning and communicates enough emotion for both.  Fans of Tremblay will, of course, not want to miss his latest creation, but by the unexpectedly soft conclusion, even they may long for the edgier Tremblay of the 1970s and ‘80s.          

©Christopher Hoile

Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2010-05-04.

Photo: Jean-Simon Traversy and Michel Séguin. ©Marc Lemyre.