“It’s not a musical, it’s not theater, it’s not a show humor, but it’s not all bad,” the creator and director ofYvon Deschamps tells the shopJean-François Blais. A show where he “took Deschamps’ words” to make a story out of them. With songs.
It is in the pumping station of the Pointe-à-Callière museum, in Old Montreal, that the creative team ofYvon Deschamps tells the shop invited the media on Wednesday, in order to set the industrial scene for this multidisciplinary show which immerses us in the world of Quebec’s most famous storyteller and comedian.
The four actors and singers ofYvon Deschamps tells the shop – David Savard, Sylvain Marcel, Elizabeth Duperré and Stéphane Archambault – started the ball rolling by singing My countryby Robert Charlebois, a piece written by the late Réjean Ducharme which can be found on the album A very ordinary guyreleased in 1971.
“It arrives at the factory with both eyes closed very hard. The unzipped panties are late. It says that it’s a flat or that the tank wasn’t starting. It takes everything to enter your punch card in the clock slot…”
In addition to the songs and monologues drawn from Yvon Deschamps’ catalogue, Jean-François Blais, who has staged shows for the national holiday, but also for the Super Franco party, wanted to include pieces from the “great Quebec repertoire” to tell the story of these workers “born for a small bread”, exploited by the boss of a large company.
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
Another excerpt fromYvon Deschamps tells the shop with David Savard, Elizabeth Duperré and Sylvain Marcel
We can therefore expect to hear pieces by Charlebois, Clémence DesRochers, Claude Dubois, Richard Séguin, Vincent Vallières and of course Yvon Deschamps (including the very beautiful Do we love each other?), according to the creator and director, who wanted to give an overview of his creation (without the costumes and without the real decor).
“Even though there are a lot of songs, the dominant feature is the acting,” says Jean-François Blais, who is directing his first musical play here. “The songs are there to serve the story. That’s also why I allowed myself to expand the repertoire. I want to promote the French-speaking world. It’s a real passion of mine.”
On Wednesday, the quartet continued with a monologue from the show Unions, what does Ossa give? in which Deschamps recounts how his boss picked him up at his home one Sunday morning to invite him to his place “in the country”, while excluding him from his house…
Excerpts from songs and monologues
Stéphane Archambault, who leads this scene by playing the character of the “sheep” employee, tells how his boss showed him his lawnmower, saying to him: “It looks tempting, if you want to have fun with it, go ahead…” Which he ends up doing, all happy, before going home… by bus.
The other characters are played by David Savard (the seducer), Sylvain Marcel (the unionist), Elizabeth Duperré (the dreamer), but also David-Alexandre Després (the foreman, a non-speaking character).
PHOTO MARTIN TREMBLAY, THE PRESS
The show’s creator and director, Jean-François Blais
“They will question themselves about love, money, education, work and their quest for happiness,” added Jean-François Blais. “To paraphrase Yvon, it’s a personal story that I’ve never experienced personally.”
The texts are also taken from the monologues of Yvon Deschamps: Money, The French language Or Globalizationamong others. But Jean-François Blais also wrote segments of this show described as a “musical-humorous tale” with his partner Isabelle Viviers in order to link all the parts.
Very well. But isn’t it a bit of a daredevil to embark on a project like this, picking here and there from the repertoire of a master like Deschamps?
When you invest in a project with Yvon Deschamps, you take it seriously. You read everything, you listen to everything. And the actors also participated in the creation, even if I knew what I wanted and I had a vision of what this show should be, so I’m quite proud of the result.
Jean-François Blais, director
Also on stage with the four actors and singers, three musicians under the direction of Guillaume Marchand, who worked closely with the musician and arranger Antoine Gratton. But also the dance troupe DM Nation and two circus artists, including David-Alexandre Després.
The virtual presence of Yvon Deschamps
As for Yvon Deschamps, he will not be physically on stage, but he will appear about ten times on a big screen and will participate in the narration of the story imagined by Jean-François Blais. “We wrote the texts that Yvon will say, and which move the story forward. He will comment on the various themes and sometimes he observes the scenes. He gave me carte blanche with one condition: he did not want there to be a moral.”
And how did the main person concerned react? “He saw segments of the sequences,” replies Jean-François Blais, “and he wrote me a message afterwards that was very moving. Yvon is authentic. He’s tired of hearing his monologues, but he had fun watching what we did.”
Mes Aïeux singer Stéphane Archambault, who has hosted radio shows and made appearances in series Rumors And Wewas happy to be part of the cast ofYvon Deschamps tells the shop being a big fan of the storyteller and comedian. “For me, Yvon Deschamps is a must-see in Quebec culture. For years, he was the one who demystified Quebec. In any case, he shook our certainties, so I’m happy to be part of this adventure.”
Yvon Deschamps tells the shop will be premiered on September 11 at the Palace in Granby. The show will be presented at the Théâtre Maisonneuve at Place des Arts in Montreal from September 24 to 26.
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