Review of Gaz Bar Blues | At human height

There is a bit of Willy Loman in the fate of François Brochu, the “boss” of a service station in Limoilou. Like Arthur Miller’s antihero, the mechanic of Gas Bar Blues is a father worried about the future of his children, a man tired by the weight of responsibilities, a dreamer of another era overwhelmed by the changes of the new world.

Duceppe’s co-artistic director David Laurin had the idea of ​​adapting Louis Bélanger’s magnificent film for the theatre. A bold choice, but not surprising. The company was founded by Jean Duceppe, an actor who also believed, like Miller, that “a little man can be as exhausted as a big one.”

However, the result is very convincing. Despite a first part that is more musical than theatrical, a bit of histrionics and dead time, this show will touch your heart. Whether or not you have seen the feature film directed by Bélanger 20 years ago.

The life of ordinary people

In our opinion, the theater remains the best place to make the voices of people from the working class heard, by exposing the fragile bonds that weave the quilt of humans, made up of uncertain dreams and disillusions. In a Brechtian staging by Édith Patenaude, this production is carried by a solid cast of nine actors, most of whom have never walked the boards at Duceppe.

The performers never leave the stage during the two-hour performance. In addition to defending their characters, they all play a musical instrument and occupy the large space of the exploded decor, a scenography by Patrick Charbonneau-Brunelle. The very beautiful jazzy musical score (signed Mathieu Dézy) blends throughout the performance with the narrative frame.

We are in 1989, the year of the fall of the Berlin wall where all hopes are allowed. François Brochu (Martin Drainville, all restrained and consumed from within) would like one of his two sons to take over at the gas bar. But they are two young artists. Guy, played by Steven Lee Potvin, is a blues musician; Réjean, defended by Frédéric Lemay, is a photographer and adventurer at heart. Neither of them wants to spend the rest of their lives in a service station, deserted by customers, too.

The 16-year-old youngest (Miryam Amrouche – the role has been feminized for the play) seems interested in working in the garage. However, she simply wants to help her father who has Parkinson’s disease… even if it means sacrificing his studies.

Around the family gravitates a microsociety of ordinary and fairly lazy people. Men with a good background, but unable to express their feelings. All their days are alike, stretching out and exhausting themselves long before evening. These guys watch life go by through newspaper headlines, the clatter of engines and saucy jokes. Special mention to Gaston Savard by Claude Despins, an actor capable of transforming an unobtrusive character into a lively and colorful score.

Gas Bar Blues, the film like the play, is the mouth music of everyday life that comes up against the wall of indifference. It’s a simple story that warms the soul. It’s sad and beautiful, like a Bach prelude.

Gas Bar Blues

Based on the film by Louis Bélanger. Theatrical adaptation David Laurin. Directed by Edith Patenaude.

At Duceppe, until February 18. At La Bordée in Quebec, from February 28 to March 25.

8/10