“I ridiculed the priest during my last seven shows, now we will be able to discover the character differently, see the human behind the priest,” confides the blond storyteller to News writer between two representations.
Discover humanity under the big black dress
“Someone told me a powerful story and I picked it up. I talked a lot about the priest in my last shows, not necessarily in a positive way: now, I want to go and see his light, his touching side under the big black dress!” explains the artist.
Through a conversation, this illumination came. “I kept the structure, the framework of the priest's story, then I took it apart a little and embroidered on it,” says the creative. “Then I started raving about it, talking about it to my girlfriend, to the guys in the van on tour and the story came together!”
“The priest is the one who makes his vows of obedience, but he does not obey too much and he does not chaste too much!”
— The storyteller Fred Pellerin
In this next proposal, the public will thus be able to touch the contrasts of the priest. “The priest is the man who has a good speech, but who goes to see the widow at Saint-Barnabé-Nord on Sunday. He’s the one who claims to have good authority, but everyone laughs at him.”
In addition to writing his next show, the storyteller still cherishes the wish of bringing his tale Of Comb and Misery to the screen, in a musical comedy version. (Stéphane Lessard/Archives Le Nouvelliste)
“My priest has no name. It is the severe priest that we ridicule instead of being afraid of. The one that we will learn to discover and love, I hope.”
— Fred Pellerin
The storyteller and screenwriter says he always had the desire to push this character. “Apart from being hit, there's a human behind it and he didn't get to this point in his life for nothing. I found all this baggage,” he explains, enthusiastically. Then, it will remain to refine the characters around and the settings, but Pellerin confirms being able to hit the road alongside “his priest” in the fall of 2026.
The musical comedy project still in mind
In addition to this writing notebook which fills up very quickly, Fred Pellerin maintains that he is pursuing various projects in parallel, including that of turning his tale into a musical comedy version of his film. Of comb and misery. We dive into the story of Méo, the village barber “hairdresser”. More than a dozen songs were composed by the artist for the occasion.
Pellerin will find Francis Leclerc as director and Éloi Painchaud as musical director. “We made a second submission of the project at the end of November (for financing), it will be continued,” he indicates. If the project comes to fruition, it would be the fourth scenario of the Caxtonian inspired by his tales to be transposed to the cinema, after Grandma (2008), And so on (2012) et L’Time snatcher (2021).
