Centaur does its best to conjugate Michel Tremblay's Past Perfect
Michel Tremblay’s Past Perfect is anything but perfect. It is pluperfect – at least it would be if its title were to be translated literally from the French version, which was called Passé antérieur after a tense used in French to denote a past action that occurred before another, more recent, past action.
With me so far? Hopefully so, because we have more conjugating to do. As is often the case with Tremblay, a sort of imaginary Bescherelle is needed to fully appreciate this play.
The grammatical bent of the title makes sense: Past Perfect is a "prequel" to Tremblay’s 1984 play Albertine in Five Times (Albertine, en cinq temps), in which he explores five stages – from age 30 to 70 – in the life of a truly horrible, haunted, guilt-ridden woman, one of the most famous heroines in the Québécois dramatic canon. The one-set, one-act Past Perfect covers the events that set in stone the personality of the tortured Albertine, and fills out another branch of the sprawling genealogical puzzle that spreads through Tremblay’s oeuvre.
A taste? Albertine is the sister of Edouard and the daughter of Victoire and Josaphat from La Maison suspendue. Jean-Marc, also of La Maison suspendue as well as Le Coeur découvert and Les Anciennes odeurs, is Tremblay’s most autobiographical literary character and Albertine’s descendant. Albertine will also later become the sister-in-law of Alex, father of Claude, the hero of Le Vrai Monde? Or something like that.
In Past Perfect, Albertine lives in a basement suite in an Old Montreal tenement with her sister Madeleine, her brother and her parents. Her father, a drunk, has left the concierge duties to her mother. Albertine, who works as a waitress at the American Spaghetti House to feed her family, escapes her trapped existence by plotting to regain the affections of her lover Alex, who has ditched her to date her older sister Madeleine. At 20, Albertine is a control freak, a borderline obsessive-compulsive delusional who, throughout the play, chain-smokes in the living room, waiting for Alex to arrive to court Madeleine. As she waits, conversations with members of her family reveal the true depths of her dementia, until her thwarted desires reach a fever pitch.
Fans of claustrophobic set pieces in which maddened women spiral downwards while waiting on a man will find just the thing in Past Perfect. But with it, Tremblay is revisiting well-trampled territory both within his own oeuvre and the whole of Western theatre. Moreover, Past Perfect may be a fascinating period piece about Montreal in the ’30s, but while Tremblay entices his hometown audiences with familiar geography and genealogy, there isn’t exactly enough to hold on to. The story harkens back to past familial trauma we can’t possibly understand and the forward motion of the script seems to foreshadow events that never happen in the play’s universe.
It’s all this that the Centaur’s English-language debut production of the play has to overcome. (Unfortunately, the show’s program doesn’t come with any kind of background text, which would have been a big help to the uninitiated right off the bat.) Patrick Clark’s evocative set, with its torn-out plaster-and-lath wall, does its best to create a sense of time and place. For their part, the cast (featuring Catherine Allard, Manon St-Jules, Paul Thomas Manz and Sasha Roiz) do an excellent job of rendering the play’s tight, back-and-forth dynamics. Yet we still find ourselves longing for the bigger picture outside the tortured anteroom in which all the action happens.
Which may, indeed, be the point. Tremblay’s latest play, Impératif présent, performed last fall in French at the Théâtre de Quat’Sous, explores the relationship between Alex (the paramour who spurns Albertine for her sister Madeleine in Past Perfect) and his son. So the story goes, conjugated ever forward.
Past Perfect
Centaur Theatre
until March 7
9 comments
A serious litterary question for Melora Koepke: can you conjugate that word the word “Ugh”?
No?
How about “Zzzzzzzzz…” (the actual sound of a throaty snort-filled snore) or “Ack!” (the actual sound of me hanging myself after watching this show)? Can you conjugate those into pluperfect french?
Seriously, I’d like to know because those are the only words that come to mind when qualifying this theatrical moment. I’m sorry to say that despite my penchant for good deep plays this puppy doesn’t even make the litter. De-pressing. Seriously, just because one might love theatre and actively support Quebec theatre doesn’t mean one has lost control of their good sense. Just because you’re dreary and heavy doesn’t make you a good play, it just makes you a terminally sombre one. I don’t doubt that the acting will be dead on but a play is about more than just acting talent, it’s about the play and in this case the appeal is very finite.
While I am a little bit disappointed in the reviews for Past Perfect, I am still very excited to see it. It seems that this play may involve some in-depth character study of a woman’s fall into madness, always an intriguing subject.
I am a new member since a few days and it is my fist comment, I am a little bit nervous,
because I will be juged by your committee . I feel like an actor just before entering the stage.
So, I am glad to learn that the masterpiece of the autor Michel Tremblay ” Past Perfect”
has been translated in the Shakespeare language, so I will go right away to Theater Centaur
in Old Montréal for the first time before March, it’s a desire and a promise, why not, because
I understand every word at the movies in original English verson, and I enjoy my life in
both languages and I am proud to salute all the others members of Hour.ca
I just saw the play “Past Perfect” at the Centaur, written by the talented world famous Michel Tremblay. In this play, a troubled obsessive disturbed Albertine (age 20) who lives with her family in the Plateau area, tries to escape reality but can’t seem to let go and go on with her life.( will do anything to get her lover back from her younger sister).
The superb cast does an excellent job of portraying their roles; but worth noting is Catherine Allard (Albertine)–who is outstanding!!
The story goes back and forth and it would have a better play had it been in French–something lacking in the translation.
PAST PERFECT is a fairly good play but ” not great” compared to other Tremblay’s plays I have seen in the past such as Les BELLES SOEURS in French and “For the Pleasure of Seeing You” in English.
I had a really trying week last week. Then I went to see Past Perfect. The first part was bickering and yelling and spitting comments. Horrible!! I particularly hated the fact that Albertine smokes on stage, at least five cigarettes which were blown right in the direction of myself and others in the first row. I was tense and depressed. Not feelings that I like when I splurge and go out. Unfortunately, there was no intermission to sneak out. So unless you love controversy and unhappy family matters, I would recommend fast forward skipping this one.
“Past Perfect” playing at the Centaur Theatre” was my first exposure to Michel Tremblay`s work.There was a definitive deja vu about this play.It brought me back to Tennesse William`s “A Streetcar named Desire” and the neurotic Blanche. Both playwrights excel in baring the human soul especially the troubled female mind we see in Albertine and Blanche.
I found this play to be stimulating and the performances all four characters excellent.I highly recommend it to everybody but especially to those who do not yet know Michel Tremblay.
And I have to say that it’s better than I would have expected, but that some of it felt awkward/mis-translated.
I’d love to see it in French now to be able compare between them…
Going to see the play ‘Past Perfect makes for a perfect time to spend with my husband after not seeing him all day since he’s at work. I looked forward to seeing a real live perfomance for two whole weeks of reserving to see the play. I can honestly say I wasn’t slightly disappointed at all ! Fantastic acting by all the actors and actresses ! I can totally immerse myself in a story that is so life-like!
I saw the production of Past Perfect last year and wa totaly blown away by it.
I was particularly moved to tears by the portrayal of Eduard, by Paul Thomas Manz.
Paul Manz is definatly one of the greatest actors in Canada, although relatively obscure. I can not find him in any films.
Anyways, Paul Manz was a joy to behold and we will surly see him all over the acting wold in the future as one of the greatest living actors of our time.