Charles has been locked away in a mental hospital for 19 years. During a performance at the Provincetown Playhouse one evening in July 1919, one of the cast kills for real instead of just pretending. What was supposed to be fiction becomes reality. Charles Charles is accused of foiling the plot but above all of having acted out a terrible fantasy. His “punishment”: to relive (reanact?) ceaselessly the drama of standing trial in what curiously comes to look more and more like a theatrical show.

The production by Chicoutimits Têtes Heureuses—never before performed in Montreal—is the most interesting stage treatment of Normand Chaurette’s PROVINCETOWN PLAYHOUSE, one of Quebec’s major dramatic works. The inspired directing treats the play’s 19 tableaux with the rigour demanded by the complex musical score. The play’s body language and dialogue are on different planes, each delivering its own message. The result is as overwhelming as the original text.

By Normand Chaurette
Directed by Pierre Fortin
A Têtes Heureuses production