Toto Too’s “Hosanna”: a masterful performance by Barry Daley

Photo Maria Vartanova

Toto Too Theatre gave us the lively, exciting and beautifully executed musical Avenue Q last season and last night, this versatile company opened a show of a different sort at “Live on Elgin : Hosanna, the ground-breaking two-hander written by Michel Tremblay , first performed in 1973 in French at the Théâtre de Quat’Sous directed by André Brassard. It was followed by the one act monologue which gives voice to La Duchesse de Langeais, a legendary role that actor Claude Gai made his own and that has been performed in Ottawa several times in English and in French. La Duchesse is one of the regular flamboyant drag queens who gets together with Sandra and her gang to humiliate Hosanna on Hallowe’en evening, the event that precedes the opening of our play. The moment Hosanna comes rushing on stage, she breaks into tears, shaking with anger and humiliation. The play then comes full circle as the second part of the evening gives Hosanna her extraordinary monologue where she tells us the whole story of Elizabeth Taylor, Cleopatra, that builds up to that fairy tale-like evening and the final insulting trick all the drag queens of the Main play on her, throwing her dreams back in her face. What happens then is the final part of this briliant play.

AT its opening, critics saw the play as a political metaphor about the situation of Quebec in the Canadian confederation but given our contemporary setting, even though they use the original English translation by John Van Burek and Bill Glassco (1974) it is clearly about identity and the anguish of defining oneself which has become a popular theme on the Quebec stage these days, especially with the arrival of immigrants to the province. Writers/actors such as Mani Soleymanlou and Wajdi Mouawad are the best known examples of this questioning. Nowadays, Hosanna brings to the discussion the question of gender , an identity category which was never discussed in public in the 1970s because it was seen as a purely gay issue and such things were not talked about openly by Quebec critics at the time. The universality of this play has become evident. With its shabby, neorealistic setting wreaking with sexuality that drifts off into expressionist dreams, It fits into the kind of atmosphere one might find in a Tennessee Williams play because there is no doubt that Tremblay is a playwright of that calibre.

Nevertheless, this production is unequal. Director Jim McNabb orchestrates this duo in a perfectly adequate way but he did not always delve deeply enough into the clues that this script offers. Lighting effects and power relations between the couple are central to this work and at times they are not emphasized in the most effective way. The “resurrection” of Claude , the ritualized transformation of Hosanna into the authentic body of the character who accepts he is really a gay man, as he removes his makeup and his kitschy exterior, is cut short at the end by the wrong lighting cues . The glaring light destroyed the intimacy, removed the magic of that moment and made the ending advance much too quickly, and did not allow it to slowly evolve at its own natural rhythm bringing the united bodies together in a smoothly flowing embrace . It was rapid, anxious, as if the actors wanted to get over it quickly.

The French accents were recognizable but did not always seem to harmonize from one actor to the next. They might even have done away with them just to assure the smooth flow of the dialogue . This was especially true in Cuirette’s case. There is a musical quality to this duo that works on variations of tone and rhythm , various tensions and voices and a perfect ear is always necessary to make it work.

John Collins is a very good looking Cuirette (Raymond Bolduc) but he lacks a strong macho biker presence even when he is being particularly cruel, taunting Hosanna for her aging face, her smelly perfume and her ridiculous obsession with Elizabeth Taylor’s Cleopatra. Collins captured the moments of tenderness that emerge at certain times but his performance lacked the hard core macho leather-draped biker who symbolizes the power in that relationship . Toughness was very necessary especially when his sexual innuendos give us to understand that Hosanna, in spite of her insults and apparent nastiness, is in love with this really tough lover who turns her on (and she can grab his crotch..!! why all this puritanism?) Collins did not project that sexy powerful fellow who attracted and repelled her through their mutual power games of sado-maso attraction that is clearly written into the play. . There was no sweaty sexual electricity anywhere. At the end when he changes his attidude towards Hosanna and becomes a softer human being who feels sorry for her and realizes he needs her, that transformation had very little emotional impact even though the writing was superb. The problem was that Cuirette/Raymond was not obliged to come down from a harder, more cruel place so the transformation to a sincerely kinder, loving presence did not generate enough dramatic effect of contrast. It all became a bit bland.

• The pillar of this show was the nuanced, sensitive, violently emotional performance by Barry Daley who created a deeply wounded Hosanna. She lashes out like a snarling wild animal in act one when Cuirette taunts her for falling into the trap of vanity, the hairdresser who can exhibit her exquisite and unique femininity and attract all the men she wants because she is such an exciting “queen”. Later she flies away into her obsessive dreams of kitschy cinematic pleasure , dreams that were smashed and trampled by the earthy squabbles of the drag queens on the Main. At that point her voice breaks, and her thoughtful delivery brought us through every step of her crumbling self, as she all fell apart that evening at Sandra’s. Her performance was spell-binding . It was a magnificent reading of Tremblay’s play where the actor went through all the steps of Hosanna’s transformation, as the costume was peeled off, and the man who who loves men was slowly resurrected. I could almost hear a requiem playing in the background for the death of Hosanna! Claude is reborn!! . The bright lights glaring at us at that moment of transformation did not allow the ritual to end on the right note but we might see a change in subsequent performances. Let’s hope so.

Currently, the meaning of the play now, at least in English, leaves no doubt as to its use of gender as one sign of identity that could also include colour, language, ethnic and national origin. Quebec at this time, is itself in the middle of a radical transformation where the existence of all forms of “difference” are having a deep impact on human relations within that society. Tremblay’s play, in its own way, touches the very heart of that matter. Hosanna plays until Saturday, January 30 at Live on Elgin

Hosanna by Michel Tremblay

Directed by Jim McNabb

Set: Grant Dolan

Lighting: Barry Sims

Sound design: Bradford McKinlay

Sound engineer: Mike Heffernan.

Costumes : Michael Tower

Props: Pam Chartrand

Makeup and hair: Corey Stone

Produced by Toto Too Theatre, Josh Kemp

Cast:

Hosanna Barry Daley

Cuirette John Collins