” Why Symphorian ? To an actor friend who asked me the question, I answered: because The Cid has already been done,” jokes Pierre Huet. The idea, which came from the producers of the play created at the Théâtre du Vieux-Terrebonne, to bring this popular television comedy from the 1970s to the theater may come as a surprise. But when the order arrived, the two co-authors went to review the available episodes to see if this work from the past stood the test of time, and they found that its characters were “very strong”.
And since great performers embodied them on the TVA network, they remained in people’s memories, explains Louis Saïa. Janine Sutto and Jean-Louis Millette have notably created striking compositions there. “The characters were even stronger than the plot at the time, I think. Obviously, we had to redo the story a bit. In the sense that we always tend to embellish things from the past. Our job has been to give what people remember, as they remember. »
Will this resurrection be a trip nostalgia for a certain audience? On the contrary, the duo decided from the outset that the play should live by itself, without it being necessary to have known Marcel Gamache’s sitcom beforehand. “I hope my daughters, who are 30 and 25, can see it and have fun,” said Huet. I think with our piece, we come up with something “symphorienesque”, but which is from 2022 — I’ve probably just invented a word. »
According to his sidekick, if Symphorian still holds up, it’s also because it takes up an “old principle of comedy, that of the ‘little one’”. Louis Saïa thus cites the commedia dell’arte or the resourceful valets in Molière. “We always put ourselves on the side of the small. We laugh at the bourgeois gentleman because it is the servant who laughs at him. »
I hope my daughters, who are 30 and 25, can see it and have fun. I think with our piece, we come up with something “symphorienesque”, but which is from 2022 — I’ve probably just invented a word.
To go into sociology, we could see in Symphorien, this concierge father of 14 children, a representation of the Quebec man of a certain era, “who has trouble arriving, who has bosstough “. His boss (Madame Sylvain) “abused him a lot in the series; the notion of hierarchy existed much more at the time”, continues the co-author of Neighbors and D’Call me Stephane, which here makes a return to scenic writing. If their goal is above all to make people laugh, Louis Saïa believes that their play can still reach the concerns of low-income earners, who are struggling to make ends meet at the moment.
“The Truth of the Ordinary Man”
Especially since the theatrical adaptation places the story in the year when the series ended its broadcast, in 1982. A context not so different: “That year, inflation was galloping in Quebec and Canada. So we make references with now. In addition, the story is set in a rooming house, a type of dwelling on the increase with the housing crisis, according to Saïa, who has recently seen a few new ones open in her neighborhood.
“Me, what struck me in the episodes is that Symphorian corresponded to something that is increasingly strong today: the truth of the ordinary man, says Pierre Huet. Through his integrity, he brings out the good side of the other characters. Personally, I say that he is a mixture of Gaston Lagaffe, because he was always blamed — there is a phrase that often comes up: “it’s Symphorien’s fault” —, and Chaplin’s character, because of his profound integrity. It’s no big secret that the villain is Symphorien’s mother-in-law, who is really an execrable character. Symphorien, in the arc of our piece, ends up bringing out the good sides of the minx that is Mher Hope. »
Does this mean that the play will be a little misogynistic? They hasten to refute. “You do well to ask the question because it allows me to talk about Marcel Gamache, replies the former editor-in-chief of Fang. Before watching the old episodes, we wondered: are we going to come across sexist, homophobic, racist jokes? And no. If we did not have to clean the stables of Augeas, it is because, compared to other series of the time, even American, there was not this deep wickedness. I concede that the character of the mother-in-law is a fine example of head-slapping. But no, women are strong in Symphorien—even sometimes, for him, too strong. I wait with a big smile whoever finds sexism there, honestly. »
The authors “sorted out” the elements which they judged to have aged. The Newfies d’Éphrem jokes are obviously out of place. As for Mademoiselle L’Espérance new version (played by Nathalie Mallette), Louis Saïa makes a bold analogy. “I would say, instead of being an old maid, it’s a bit like the character of Blanche in A tram called Désirbut comical [les deux auteurs s’esclaffent]. She fantasizes a lot. »
al Capone
The duo was therefore inspired by the world of Marcel Gamache to imagine an original story. “We tried to draw the essence of the characters, not to make a pastiche, specifies Saïa. So we recognize the characters, without it being the same as the originals. We didn’t want to make a copy, it’s not interesting. “The cast is made up of performers “who are natural comedians and who all have an easy propensity to create,” adds the one who also signs the staging, in collaboration with Pierre Séguin. With François Chénier in the role created by Gilles Latulippe and, in particular, Patrice Coquereau in Oscar, the undertaker. If there are similarities, including physical, with the original cast, “because of their creativity, they take us elsewhere”.
“I think we made a strong plot, adds Huet. I’m sure it doesn’t sound like a bloated hour and a half TV episode. This is where Louis’ experience in theater came in extremely handy. And in sitcoms, there’s what we call “putting the meters to zero”: we always start the plot at the beginning. So if Symphorian became a TV series again, our episode would not exist because too fundamental things are happening in the plot. For example, the eternal non-love affair between Berthe L’Espérance and Oscar Bellemare, we are taking it somewhere. We solve things. »
A story they don’t want to reveal too much, but where Al Capone’s time in the boarding house, when it was a brothel, becomes a pivotal element…
Whether Symphorian was burlesque, elaborated “a lot from canvas” by the actors, who improvised lines, there is nothing improvised in the play, where each line was very worked. “Louis is very strong in dramaturgy. And I dare to think that I am a lover of words, writing has been my passion, in all its variations, for 50 years. So the mixing between our two talents, it’s not so bad. Moreover, the duo already has another piece in the making. Pierre Huet was surprised recently that someone introduced him as a “songwriter and playwright”. “I am almost 73 years old and for the first time, I have become a playwright! I felt a great pleasure there and I owe it to this gentleman here. »