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<\/a>Langham Court has been home for Treloar for a long time, and she\u2019s happy to return to the director\u2019s seat there once more. The theatre, which is currently in its 89th season, holds a lot of personal history for Treloar. As a mother of three, she would attend the plays there while she raised her children. The drive there would clear her head and revitalize her passion for theatre.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn a way, it\u2019s a relief for everybody to come to the theatre for the night and forget about your other life,\u201d Treloar says.<\/p>\n
Les Belles-Soeurs<\/i> will be the grand finale of a year commemorating Canada\u2019s greatest playwrights in honour of the nation\u2019s sesquicentennial year. Treloar says that Tremblay is thought to be one of the greatest Canadian playwrights, if not the greatest.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst of all, [you] need to see anything by Michel Tremblay,\u201d Treloar says. \u201cI wrote in the program notes that you have to \u2018lean forward and listen,\u2019 because you must listen to the words and to who the women [in the play] really are.\u201d<\/p>\n
Written and produced in 1965, the play follows the conversations and confessions of a group of women living in a tenement in Montreal in the \u201960s. It\u2019s set in the area Tremblay grew up in and reflects his observations of the time. With an all-female cast, the play depicts the harsh reality of being a woman in a male-dominant society, but also reveals the determination and strength of these French-Canadian women.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just an amazing opportunity to have all these women on stage, without any men,\u201d says Treloar. \u201cIf there were men there, they would be telling them where to go and what to do. They get to talk about their lives, their children, their husbands, their priests\u2014it was quite controversial when it was first written.\u201d<\/p>\n
The uniqueness of an all-female cast creates a sisterhood on and off the stage for Treloar and her cast. There have been times to recall their common past and times to bond throughout the rehearsal period, she says.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve all gone down memory lane with our moms and our grandmas and our sisters,\u201d says Treloar. \u201cIt\u2019s made me remember my family growing up. My dad was always the boss. My mom would say, \u2018Wait \u2019til your father gets home\u2019; that used to scare us. All of our memories have come back of what it was like when we were young.\u201d<\/p>\n
Humorous but painfully nostalgic for her generation, Treloar says the play is just as relevant\u2014if not moreso\u2014for college students today. Les Belles-Soeurs <\/i>recognizes women who suffer as a result of inequality in society and pays tribute to women and men in any age who fight for equality.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is still happening all over the world,\u201d Treloar says. \u201cMen are telling women what to do\u2026 Open the paper and look at all the stuff about women who are being abused. This is such a good thing for young people to see\u2014to stand up for yourself and not be afraid.\u201d<\/p>\n