The Guid Sisters – Review by Jennifer Adam “An energised production with humorous songs and heartfelt honesty.” The Guid Sisters by Michel Trembly Translated by Martin Bowman and Bill Findlay Directed by Serge Denoncourt When Pierre Bernard, then Artistic Director of Montreal’s Theatre de Quat’sous first saw a stage production of Irving Welsh’s Trainspotting in Glasgow in the latter half of the 90s, he was captivated by the play’s dramatic energy and scenes of brutal honesty. Despite only understanding a tenth of the language, Bernard took the stage play to Montreal and commissioned it to be translated into ‘joual’ French – a dialect most associated with working class Montreal. Similarly, Michel Trembley’s 1968 stage production Les Belles-Soeurs – a play famous for being written in joual French must have struck a similar chord with The National theatre of Scotland who have translated Trembly’s revolutionary play into a strong Glaswegian dialect as the aptly named, The Guid Sisters. At the time, Trembly refused to write this play in English forcing upper class Quebecois theatre goers to watch, listen and learn about lives of working class Montreal, an attempt to Bridge the gap between cultures and [...]
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