By attacking Witches of Salem, Édith Patenaude and Sarah Berthiaume were faced with a moral problem. Did the two feminists want to work on this play, which they describe as “misogynist”, written by Arthur Miller almost 70 years ago? And why visit yet another famous story, with a dominant and unfaithful white hero? Instead of telling new stories featuring forgotten women from the repertoire, not just mothers or whores?
The director and the author have therefore found a gap in the story to shed light on the work from another angle in their adaptation. In the era of the #metoo movement and women’s voices in the theater, their production at the Théâtre Denise-Pelletier (TDP) shakes up, questions and reinvents Witches of Salem. She even adds a very current monologue to a female character to challenge the audience in the middle of the last act.
PHOTO EDOUARD PLANTE-FRÉCHETTE, ARCHIVES THE PRESS
The director Édith Patenaude and Sarah Berthiaume, who signs the translation and adaptation of the text of Witches of Salem.
The proposal is daring, a little confusing in its great darkness (subdued lighting, dark costumes, heavy decor, oppressive sound environment…), but it fits perfectly into the mission of a company like the TDP.
The last thing teenage audiences want to see is a dusty classic. These “witches” have swept the room squarely.
Collective hysteria
Farmer and family man John Proctor (excellent Étienne Pilon) had a secret affair with his young servant, Abigail Williams (Emmanuelle Lussier-Martinez, all in power and conviction). When Proctor’s wife (Évelyne Gélinas, fair and moving) finds out about their relationship, she goes to kick Abigail out of the house. Surprised later dancing with other girls in the woods, Abigail becomes a “defiled creature” in the eyes of the Puritans. To avoid being condemned for Satanism, she takes revenge and in turn accuses Mme Proctor of witchcraft.
As the shadow of Satan hangs everywhere, suspicion builds up over several villagers; and condemnations are raining down. John Proctor will try in vain to put an end to the collective hysteria. Now, “God is a fortress, and there can be no loopholes in a fortress.” Proctor, a man both good and vile, honest and a liar, courageous and cowardly, will be hanged. And he will become a tragic hero, dead on the altar of obscurantism.
The trial of fanaticism
In their adaptation, the creators argue that it is difficult to erect Proctor as a victim, without evacuating the historical reality of the witch hunt, because it “was a feminicide at the time”, believe- they.
Their “witches” will confront the male characters. Quite frontal. Abigail’s chilling reply to the judge, when she orders him not to look her in the eye, symbolizes this reversal of power, at the center of this feminist reinterpretation.
However, Arthur Miller did not write a text on witches, the war of the sexes or the injustice of patriarchy. The witch trial remains a pretext to denounce fanaticism (religious, political or economic). And the madness that he can engender in his disciples. The famous “believe or die” remains at the heart of the story.
Ultimately, John Proctor’s flaws and flaws make him human. If his fall is tragic, it is because we can identify with him. Whether we are a man, a woman … or a non-binary person.
Witches of Salem
Denise-Pelletier Theater, until November 27