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Pack your bag and join Lunchbox Theatre for a road trip, not through the heartland, but through the land of the heart.
The Ballad of Georges Boivin is a story of grief, resilience, friendship and love, crafted by award-winning French Canadian playwright Martin Bellemare, and translated by Jack Paterson and Johanna Nutter. This is only the second time this play has been presented in English.
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The play’s protagonist is Georges Boivin, a 77-year-old Montreal widower who lost his wife Germaine a year earlier. His loss still seems surreal, and, to try to deal with it, he decides to drive to Vancouver to find Juliette Chacal, his first love he hasn’t seen in 50 years. Along with his memories of her, he has her last known address in Vancouver. Georges talks two friends from his retirement home, Gerard and Clement, and lifelong friend Jean Pierre, who lives in a care home, into accompanying him.
Gerard is a bit of a grouch, but it’s his way of dealing with dementia, while Clement still fancies himself a bit of an elitist. Jean Pierre is deaf and needs a wheelchair, but still has a razor-sharp memory, and, next to Georges, he knew Juliette best, so his presence is essential.
The four men, and some of the people they meet along the way, are all played by Duval Lang in what is a beautifully nuanced, totally easeful performance. It’s such a pleasure being in his company.
Georges speaks directly to the audience, so it really feels as if we’re riding in that car with this most unlikely quartet. He has brought along a slide projector, and some slides that are vital to the story he is telling, It’s something left over from his years as a teacher.
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Director Bronwyn Steinberg and Lang make exceptional use of the four suitcases which come to represent each of the men, and what Steinberg creates with a sweater is pure theatrical magic.
As Georges tells us, and Lang shows so well in his voice and mannerisms, his wife Germaine was the love of his life, or as he says, the centre of his life. His recollections are not just heartfelt, but sometimes heart-wrenching. By comparison, his memories of Juliette are more humorous, and definitely filled with passion. When he met Juliette, he was naive and virginal; she not so much so.
What Georges feels for Gerard and Clement is friendship of the highest order. What he feels for Jean Pierre is more akin to love. There is an incredible scene in the final third of the play when Georges and Jean Pierre are alone in the car, and Jean Pierre rediscovers his zest for life, which Lang makes so powerful that it tugs at the heart.
It’s remarkable how much tension and suspense Bellemare, Steinberg and Lang create in the sustained climax of the play. I won’t tell you what Georges and Jean Pierre find when they reach Vancouver. You’ll have to take the road trip with them but be assured the rewards are immense.
Beth Kates’s set and lighting give the play a dreamlike quality, as does Anton deGroot’s sound design.
The Ballad of Georges Boivin is beautifully written, directed, designed and acted, and it has so much to say about aging, friendship, and, above all, the enduring qualities of love. It runs in the Vertigo Studio Theatre at the base of the Calgary Tower until May 5.
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