The actress, host and columnist Louise DesChâtelets will interpret this summer the role of Mrs. Plouffe in the police comedy eight womenan Agatha Christie-like play created in 1958 by Robert Thomas and adapted in a Quebec version by Michel Tremblay.
eight women has already had several lives, notably in two adaptations for the big screen, one signed by Victor Merenda, in 1960, and the other, by François Ozon, in 2002. This time, it is the Quebec playwright Michel Tremblay who adapted the play, which is still set in the 1950s, but in Mont-Saint-Hilaire.
The play follows the story of eight women who are preparing to celebrate Christmas before discovering the corpse of the master of the house, who has been stabbed in the back with a knife. A stampede of style ensues whodunnit (who did it?), while each of the women is suspected of having committed the murder, for different reasons.
It’s a detective drama that is paired with a comedy. In life, when things get so dreadful, it ends up being funnyexplains Louise DesChâtelets.
Louise DesChâtelets, at ease in counter-employment
The 76-year-old actress, who plays Ms. Plouffe, is the dean of the cast, which also includes Myriam Poirier, Josée Beaulieu, Sonia Vigneault, Pascale Desrochers, Christiane Raymond, Lou-Vincent Desrosiers and Marie-Andrée Lemieux.
The surname alone, Mrs. Plouffe, says it all, and Michel Tremblay did not choose it with impunity. It is a large lady who raised the children of the family, a mother in the purest sense of the term, explains Louise DesChâtelets. She is earthy. He is a superb character, who is both totally lovable and totally hateful, because of his vice of the game.
The actress describes the role as a counter-job, a bit like her character Doudou Désirée in the television series Gable Street, a somewhat rude gas station attendant at the antipode of the image of the perfect little lady which stuck to the skin of Louise DesChâtelets at the time.
She spoke badly, she was vulgar, she came from a poor background. I would never have been seen in this kind of job, but Mia Riddez [l’autrice de la série] had this audacityshe recalls.
A piece that almost never saw the light of day
The course of eight women has been strewn with pitfalls since the first rehearsals, due to the pandemic, but also to a drama that unfolded at the end of 2021.
It was postponed twice, in 2020, then in 2021. And on December 18, during the last rehearsal, Béatrice Picard had a heart attack. She was transported by ambulance and kept in hospital for two weeksexplains Louise DesChâtelets.
Béatrice Picard eventually had to give up her role and was replaced at the last minute by Josée Beaulieu; a great headache for the latter, but also for the director Alain Zouvi, who had to train her in record time.
After surviving all these trials, the coin eight women will be presented at the Théâtre de Rougemont, from July 7, then at the Théâtre Le Patriote, in Sainte-Agathe-des-Monts, from August 11.
This text was written froman interview conducted by Isabelle Craig for the show Penelope. Comments may have been edited for clarity or conciseness.
Radio Canada
Radio Canada
Source: Radio-Canada
