The memory fades, but the fire remains
Potentially maudlin subject deeply moving
When a person suffering from Alzheimer’s disease says, “Don’t stay away too long, I might not remember you when you get back,” the adieu takes on a poignant note.
In recent years, as awareness has spread, there have been numerous plays and films about this form of dementia. François Archambault’s Tu te souviendras de moi, playing to sold-out houses at La Licorne, ranks among the best of the genre. It doesn’t hurt that one of Quebec’s most accomplished actors, Guy Nadon, is playing the lead role.
Nadon’s Édouard is a retired history professor and pundit who is fond of being sought for his opinions. The play begins with the taping of a television interview, in which he acknowledges his illness while insisting that he can still remember important historical dates. His worry-worn wife, Madeleine (Johanne-Marie Tremblay), stands beside him, ready to fill in the gaps in his conversation.
He manages to deliver a rip-roaring rant, describing the technological revolution in apocalyptic terms. He dares to suggest that the battle between sovereignists and federalists pales in comparison to the problems posed by a world where no one is interested in ideas anymore, preferring to spend time immersed in virtual reality, blogging, tweeting or interacting on Facebook.
It’s possible, he adds, that when faced with the stupidity of the situation, his mind has chosen to pull the plug.
On the home front, Édouard’s world is unravelling. Madeleine has reached the breaking point with his unsettling lapses and wandering nights. She wants her daughter, Isabelle (Marie-Hélène Thibault), to give her a break. But Isabelle, a journalist, has too many demanding stories, of pedophiles and floods, to cover. She delegates the homecare duties to her new boyfriend, Patrick (Claude Despins), who doesn’t have any pressing engagements — except his evening poker game. For that absence, he bribes his teenage daughter, Bérénice (Emmanuelle Lussier Martinez), to babysit, instructing her not to tell Isabelle.
It turns out that the disaffected, gum-chewing Bérénice, at first glued to her smartphone, instinctively knows how to handle Édouard. She draws from his memories of his other, deceased daughter to comfort him and introduces him to YouTube.
Archambault, who won the Governor General’s Literary Award for drama in 1998 for 15 secondes, about a young man with cerebral palsy, has once again embraced a potentially maudlin subject and dealt with it in an intelligent, deeply moving way. Édouard, of course, owns the lion’s share of the best lines. When he tells his wife, who has already found romance elsewhere, that he regrets that he won’t be able to take care of her when it’s her turn to be sick, our hearts melt — for him, not her. Madeleine and Isabelle get sparse sympathy.
Director Fernand Rainville has cast well and trusted his actors to connect with this adroitly written work.
Set and costume designer Patricia Ruel has created an attractive twolevel set that can easily, with a shift of lighting, transfer the action to forest or field.
Although La Licorne has already added several performances of Tu te souviendras de moi, few tickets remained as of Wednesday. Act now or wait for the remount.
Tu te souviendras de moi, by François Archambault, continues at La Licorne, 4559 Papineau Ave., until Feb. 22. Tickets cost $22 (for those under 30) to $32. Call 514523-2246 or visit theatrelalicorne.com.