By Elizabeth Holliday
@femme.path

At its 1968 premiere, Michel Tremblay’s Les Belles-Soeurs was nothing short of revolutionary. Considered Quebec theatre’s first stand in the Quiet Revolution, the play scandalized upper-middle class audiences with its earnest portrayal of 15 women navigating a repressive social climate—all in working-class Joual. Fifty years later, the English translation is getting its first professional West Coast mounting. Producer and Director Diane Brown, the Artistic Director of Ruby Slippers Theatre, believes that Les Belles-Soeurs is as relevant today as it was in 1968, suggesting the need for revolution is as potent now as 50 years ago. 

Loose Lips: Why are you passionate about French translations?

Diane Brown: Ruby Slippers has a two-tiered mandate: the first is to further the voices of women in theatre, and the other equally strong thrust is diversity. Diversity means […] cultural diversity as well. Bringing Quebec works to British Columbia in English translation is not something that happens very much. We’re the only company in Vancouver whose mission includes French-Canadian canon in English. It is a very distinct and incredible culture, and I think it enriches us to have these translated and performed here. 

LL: Why this play? 

DB: This is one of the most powerful social satires that I think has ever come out of the Canadian Canon. It’s a searing indictment of our consumer-crazed culture, of the English elite and the Catholic Church, who both had a stranglehold on Quebec for hundreds of years…Tremblay wrote this in 1965, [when] women didn’t have equal rights under the law. They couldn’t get safe, legal abortions, they weren’t allowed divorce their abusive husbands, […] they were expected to stay home and raise children and that’s it. So it’s a really oppressive environment for the working-class French Canadian. And it’s 15 female voices on stage, 15 women. Not only did he dare to put these working class women on upper-middle class stages, talking about things that were considered taboo, he exposed these women’s oppression and their own sort of hypocrisy, their sense of hopelessness, their misery, their humanity, and their humour. It’s all there. 

LL: What ideas are you exploring in this mounting? 

DB: [In the play] somebody wins the lottery, and her friends and family come over and start to steal her winnings in a way. And it got me thinking about the Greed Economy. You read a lot about this greed-based economy that we live in. But [in] the more recent analysis, economists are saying that we live in an envy-based economy. Greed-based assumes that you’re a rugged individual out for yourself, to get as much as you can, and you’ll be happy. But envy-based is relational. You compare yourself to others, and you won’t be happy unless you have more than the person next to you. Which is philosophically quite a paradigm shift. […] I think this play illustrates the Envy Economy in action, with these women trying to raise their status and lower each other’s because they are so desperate to get out of this situation. Tremblay said once “they’re too unhappy to be compassionate.” 

LL: Why do you think it took so long for a professional production on the West Coast?

DB: Because it’s 15 actors, it’s very expensive. I also think that because most Artistic Directors in Canada are men, and most of the plays are written and directed by men. Things that have a female-heavy bend to them are considered box-office risks. The sexism of the industry is still there. It’s changing; a lot of independent companies are doing great work. [Ruby Slippers has] been doing this for 30 years, showcasing women and diversity, but it seems to be the independent companies that are really taking a lead on this and the larger, more well-funded ones are trying to catch up. 

LL: The original piece was revolutionary in part for its use of Joual, the working-class French Canadian dialect. How does the translation change that effect? 

DB: In the English Translation, you can’t do Joual, so they’ve made a kind of a working class idiom that the characters speak in. It has a kind of uneducated and choppy syntax, stuff that reveals the working poor nature of their existence. […] What I think is going to be really interesting for people about the language and about the translation is that this is an oratorio for 15 women, and there’s a rhythm and a musicality to this play that is undeniable. 

LL: What does LBS offer to a contemporary audience?

DB: In the era of Donald Trump, where racism, and misogyny, and all these hate values which are a product of rudderless capitalism [are] all being normalized, it’s disturbing how timely this piece is 50 years later. It was at one time a critique of the Catholic Church and the English elite. I think now it’s a critique of Canadian Culture. […] It still reveals what everybody out for themselves looks like in a hyper-consumer-addled society, and the cost of that to us personally and as a society, how it destroys community. 

LL: What is going to be different about seeing LBS now versus 50 years ago?

DB: Well now we have the #metoo movement. Here we have 15 women talking directly to the audience about their horrific lives, and now we’re listening and we have some respect for women’s voices. Back then it was probably greeted by some as a revolutionary thing […] Nowadays it unfortunately still is. I think it’s going to pack a punch, in that we haven’t actually come that far.

I’ll leave you with a quote by Tremblay: “One woman complaining is pitiful. Five or more women saying they are unhappy with their lives at the same time is the beginning of a revolution.”

Please note that some quotes have been shortened for clarity. 

Les Belles-Soeurs is playing at the Gateway Theatre September 27 to October 6. Tickets and more information can be found here.

Elizabeth is a writer, actor, and full-time nerd living on Unceded Coast Salish Territories. With a BA in Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice, she is passionate about media that challenges norms, beliefs, and mainstream representation. You can find her listening to true crime podcasts and trying to find good places to dance (she’ll take recommendations).