The Sidekick Players Club begins auditions for its next production, Les Belles Soeurs, this weekend.
Written in 1965 by Michel Tremblay, the impact of the play is still being debated in Quebec today, but suffice it to say it changed much of what was believed to be Quebec culture.
When it was proposed for the Dominion Drama Festival, it was turned down by the jury. The play set off a storm of controversy, firstly because of the language and then because it dared to portray working class women doing working class things. Also, it went after men.
None of this sounds particularly special today, but in 1968, theatre in Quebec was just releasing itself from religious and morality plays and joining (late) in the Quiet Revolution.
The story follows Germaine, a Montreal housewife, who has won a million Gold Star stamps (stamps given out by grocery stores, which customers stuck into little booklets and exchanged for goods like barbecues and lawn chairs) and has invited all the women she knows to come over and help her stick them into the booklets.
As they stick, the women discuss the men in their lives, the church and their small joys.
In one elaborate and thrilling spoken-choral passage, the women tell of the joys of Bingo.
Directed for Sidekick by Carroll Lefebvre, auditions will be held on Sunday, Oct. 18 and Tuesday, Oct. 20 at the Tsawwassen Arts Centre. Both sessions will run from 7 to 8 p.m. The cast requires 15 women ranging in age from their 20s to 80s. French Canadian accents are not required for the audition, but might be in future.
This will be a cold read from the script. There will be no appointments and auditions will be done on a first come, first served basis.
Call-backs, if necessary, will be Wednesday, Oct. 28 in the evening.
Send resume and head shot to [email protected].
