Janette review | A century in room

By rubbing shoulders with a Quebec idol, Rébecca Déraspe and Jean-Simon Traversy avoided the hagiography trap. They sign a comforting and moving spectacle, scholar and funny. To better rock the soul of a chilly and courageous people. Like Janette.

Posted at 5:30 a.m.

We will long remember the first of Janette, mardi evening at Duceppe. After the media threshing around the 100th anniversary of M^me Bertrand, this evening promised to be historic. And it was! Create a room on a centenary personality, sitting in the room, and who sees his life scrolling on the stage at the same time as 800 other spectators … a big moment!

Biographical story of a woman and her fights. Dialogue between a great communicator and her audience. National Fresco on Quebec from 1925 to today. Duty of memory and transmission.

That’s all at a time, Janette, one piece Signed Rébecca Déraspe, directed by Jean-Simon Traversy, who stars seven performers (plus a musician). In the main role, Guylaine Tremblay is more true than life (we will come back to it)!

Photo Danny Taillon, supplied by Duceppe
Janette and her long path traveled

The show is divided into several parts, such as the services of a meal, from the appetizer to the dessert. A handful of spectators have also chosen the meal-spectacle formula. They are seated at the ends of the plateau, courtyard and garden, and watch the show by savoring revisited recipes from Janette.

The start is a bit laborious. We come back to his childhood with great strokes of dates and historical facts. It was undoubtedly necessary to put Quebec in context of the great darkness, to illustrate the conservatism of the time. We may know our history, the contempt of the Catholic clergy towards women remains memorable!

Photo Danny Taillon, supplied by Duceppe
Guylaine Tremblay in the role of Janette

A childhood in troubled water

Janette was an unloved child. Stuck between an unhappy mother (who died quite young in tuberculosis), and a cold father.

However, the young woman will emancipate at the same time as Quebec. After her university studies and her marriage, she will raise a family working outside the home. Without stopping nourishing his passion for words. The writing gives it access to the artistic and journalistic environment.

The show evokes, among other things, her friendship with the actress Janine Sutto.

Its traveled path is exemplary! In the 1950s and 1960s, Janette multiplied projects on radio and television with her husband, Jean Lajeunesse. She signs chronicles in the newspapers, supported by her mentor Pierre Péladeau, defended character with earthy and respect by Cynthia Wu-Maheux. (We also highlight these days, the centenary of the founder of Quebecor.) Then will come the consecration: What a family! at Radio-Canada; successful shows in Télé-Québec, such as With a large A or Janette wants to know.

The episode of the Charter …

And Janette Return to these feats of arms, the show also exhibits its doubts and its cursed “impostor syndrome”. No subject is taboo for the host. We also evoke an intimate drama, a sexual assault suffered by Janette at home, while her children slept in their room.

Janette Also returns to a recent and controversial episode in his career. In 2013, the author supported the Charter of Quebec Values of the Government of Pauline Marois. In an interview, it is opposed to the wearing of the Islamic veil. She will live a “backlash”. “People were avoiding me on the street, I was very unhappy. »»

Photo Danny Taillon, supplied by Duceppe
Guylaine Tremblay plays Janette, from youth to old age, and metamorphoses according to the ages, with his posture, his approach, his voice.

Now, Janette persists and signs: “Religion is a boys club Who despises women, ”she says in the room, standing around the big table that reproduces the decor of her show to speak.

With his colorful blouse, her wig and her neat makeup, Guylaine Tremblay plays Janette, from youth to old age. Without a change of costumes, the actress metamorphoses according to the ages. She succeeds in embodying Janette with truth, without ever imitating him. She illuminates her character from the inside, with her heart and soul. After defending Nana by Michel Tremblay on the same scene, the actress is a new tour de force here!

Aging, the great deal!

The other members of the distribution interpret several secondary characters, and also their own role, while they do the service to the guests. Let us mention that Janette pays tribute to one of the members of its distribution, Normand Chouinard. The actor had not played in the theater for 17 years. Because it was too much … old.

Photo Danny Taillon, supplied by Duceppe
*Janette* : an exciting and lively theatrical fresco, which highlights the invaluable legacy of this pioneer in Quebec.

The latter taboo is approached with accuracy. In a performance society inclined to age, aging is suspect. Now, Janette believes that you have to bite in each period of our life, as long as we have health and lucidity.

The show ends with a monologue that is aimed at those who will make Quebec of tomorrow.

If Janette has gone through a century to transmit her story to us, it is to offer it as a legacy to the youngest. As the proverb says: “Whoever does not know where he comes from cannot know where he is going. »»Consult the part of the part