“Le Rideau se Lève au Manitoba” by Annette Saint-Pierre

For a few years now, Québecois have been more aware of the existence of Francophones outside Québec. Are the latter making more noise, or have minorities simply become a fashionable issue? In Le rideau se lève au Manitoba, Annette Saint-Pierre gives us an opportunity to become more acquainted with Franco-Manitobans. The book tells and retells the brief story of Manitoba theatre from the beginnings of the colony to the present day. To achieve this task, the author made the effort “to gather a rich documentation and to reflect as objectively as possible the evolution of French theatre in Manitoba in its rightful socio-historical context”. How does Annette Saint-Pierre present this vast subject to us? Where is the interest in this impressive volume?

In the introduction, the author gives us a summary of the history of Manitoba, briefly touches the controversial issue of bilingualism in the province, describes the stages of her research, and introduces the chapters in the book: theatre in teaching institutions; theatre in the parishes; playhouses; le Cercle Molière; and plays written in French in Manitoba.

At the beginning of the colony, around 1870, the theatre made its first appearance in urban teaching institutions. In these institutions, run by priests and nuns, a visit from the bishop for the distribution of awards would provide an opportunity for the presentation of performances designed to instruct and to enforce moral precepts. Little by little, the population became more liberalized. At the Provencher academy, around 1912, a group of students and alumni established a club to produce more varied kinds of theatre. At Saint-Boniface College, the Jesuits considered theatre educational, and as a matter of course produced the classics. Many Franco-Manitoban actors and directors discovered their interest in the theatre at this institution. The secularization of teaching institutions led to a reduction of theatrical performances, which became, more often than not, an extracurricular activity, dependent on the voluntary involvement of the teachers.

In the country, theatre, staged in churches and parish halls, was also popular. The Enfants de Marie, the Association Catholique de la Jeunesse Canadienne, and the Jeunesse Agricole Catholique became actors, to amuse themselves, and to celebrate particular events. In the country villages between 1886 and 1900, they presented forty-eight performances: from 1931 to 1948, they put on one hundred and eighty-five; but, in contrast, from 1971 to 1975, there were only seven performances. Secularization, the new trend toward music, and, in some cases, anglicization, were the main causes for this decline. Only the village of Sainte-Anne maintained an ongoing theatrical tradition, but the practise of staging special performances to celebrate events survives: Saint-Jean Baptiste and Saint-Leon both presented historical plays to mark their respective centenaries.

But the same course of events repeats itself from parish to parish. Saint-Pierre’s material could have been condensed without taking away from the account. By comparing the villages rather than treating them individually, the author could have made the subject more interesting, and would have more efficiently demonstrated the primary place that theatre held for a long time in everyday country life. Reading the second chapter, presented as it is, becomes a little tedious. What a pity.

The third chapter takes the reader back to the city where we see an incredible number of companies appearing, all very short lived. There was nothing like the theatre to raise funds, to provide recreation, to occupy an evening, and to promote French language and culture! As soon as one performance ended, another would take its place. At the same time as actors and directors came together to form the Cercle Molière, a larger tradition was simultaneously established. Many organizations, like La Liberté newspaper in the period 1920 to 1932, organized tours by amateur actors to perform in the villages in the evenings and on weekends. Toward 1939, two troupes began to attract all the amateur actors: the Cercle Molière and the Cercle Dramatique Sacre-Coeur. The latter, under the direction of Camille Saint-Marie, performed dramatic and musical plays from 1920 to 1956. Established in 1951, La Coulisse attempted to compete with the Cercle Molière, but folded in 1955. From 1947 on, companies from abroad occasionally toured Manitoba. At this point in the book, the author, not wanting to miss anyone, mentions every group who staged a play at one time or another. Thus the brief mentions of La Brigade de Feu (1885) and La Fanfare lndépendante de Saint-Boniface (1889-92).

Annette Saint-Pierre has devoted many pages to the Cercle Molière, and, given this company’s outstanding reputation, this is understandable. Having described the circumstances surrounding the conception of the Cercle Molière in 1925, she introduces the more important actors and directors. The section on the present Artistic Director, Roland Mahé, gives us an indication of how the Cercle Molière functions today. The author then describes the various halls where the company has performed, the drama festivals in which they have participated and in which they have won awards, and the tours that the company has undertaken. Finally, she presents us with the results of a poll of Cercle Molière subscribers which she herself conducted in 1976.

Having participated myself in the activities of the Cercle Molière for six years, I must admit that I am not in total agreement with the contents of chapter four. Perhaps the subject matter is too extensive. Perhaps the author is misinformed. The actors she mentions seem to have been chosen arbitrarily. To be sure, Ronald Seguin and Paul Léeillé acted in numerous plays, but then so did Claude Dorge, Irène Mahé, Jeanette Arcand, Gilbert Rosset, Jacqueline Hogarth, Francis Fontaine, Jean-louis Hébert, and many others, and they were omitted. Neither did Annette Saint-Pierre consider it necessary to mention in this chapter the Festival Théâtre-Jeunesse, organized by the Cercle Molière; nor did she mention the workshops conducted by the Cercle Molière to encourage young playwrights, actors, directors, and technicians. Some of the questions the author raises concerning the future of the company have never been issues in the eyes of its members. For example, despite the questions raised by the author, there has never been any possibility that the Cercle Molière might operate exclusively as a company for child audiences. The author gives no indication of the company’s present status, and says very little about how the company works. The Cercle Molière would have to write an entire article to correct and complete what Annette Saint-Pierre has to say. Failing that, a reader can always turn to the book that the Cercle Molière published to commemorate its fiftieth anniversary. [Anon., Le Cercle Molière: Cinquantieme Anniversaire (Saint-Boniface: les Editions du Blé, 1975).] It contains more facts and … more photographs.

The fifth chapter deals with Manitoban plays written in French. Saint-Pierre describes several old scripts, particularly those of Auguste-Henri de Trémaudan and Castelein de la Lande, playwrights primarily concerned with the land and history. Then she jumps to more recent scripts, those of Roger Auger, Rosemarie Bissonnette, Roger Legal, Paul Ruest, Marius Benoist, and Guy Gauthier. When these authors are not writing about historical events, they reftect on linguistic problems and contemporary social issues.

The last chapter seems to me to be purely subjective. The author is critical of Roger Auger’s scripts, but praises the work of Roger Legal and Paul Ruest, work written in the context of a course given by Annette Saint-Pierre herself! And why no mention of Claude Dorge’s Roitelet, the third most popular Cercle Molière play in the public’s opinion?

Annette Saint-Pierre concludes by saying that “the need to enjoy art, to hear beautiful speech, and to show pride in our race” explains the important role played by the theatre in Franco-Manitoban life. She laments the lack of attention paid to theatre in schools these days, and questions the plays chosen for presentation by the modern Cercle Molière. But she then commends, justifiably, the admirable work of Roland Mahé, the Artistic Director of the Cercle Molière Theatre.

There is an abundance of interesting information in the appendix, and this, no doubt, will be very useful to researchers: a repertoire of plays performed in French in Manitoba; the recollections of two alumni of College Saint-Boniface; the questionnaire for the poll already referred to; and a valuable bibliography.

In reading Le Rideau se lève au Manitoba, we Québecois cannot help but feel a kinship with the Franco-Manitobans, to be moved by their efforts to resist assimilation, and to be astonished by their vitality. The tenacity and the energy displayed by those who loved the stage leaves us open-mouthed. It is not surprising that a taste for theatre is firmly rooted in the Franco-Manitobans. After “school plays” similar to ours, the theatre in Manitoba quickly became a means (acknowledged or not) of fighting against assimilation. As for Cercle Molière, it has been a pillar of francophonie for more than fifty years.

Manitoban by adoption, Annette Saint-Pierre is the first to undertake such an enormous task (perhaps too enormous), raising the curtain on the history and the contribution of French theatre in Manitoba. She deserves congratulations for this richly documented work, but we must also regret those instances where there is insufficient objectivity or information. I hope that those who read this book will want to explore Franco-Manitoban culture in greater depth, and to become better acquainted with those who gave it its life.

This review by Louise Filteau was originally printed in Jeu: Cahiers de Theâtre (Montréal), 1981.3. It is reprinted with the kind permission of that journal. The translation (for Arts Manitoba) was done by Denise Brown.