Our dear Quebecois friend, June T., sent this review of Grace & Gloria. Thanks June for being our guest blogger ~
I was invited with a guest to the premiere of the play Grace & Gloria on March 23rd. As I arrived at the address indicated on the invitation, I was not certain I was at the right place at all !! The large signs outside the building advertised different presentations for Can Stage!! Even going into the first building, there were no signs of a play by the Theatre Français de Toronto. Luckily, the friendly staff was helpful enough and finding my way to my seat was easier.
The foyer of the theater was much too small for the numerous guests as I found there was another presentation being held in the same building with, similarly, too few seats. The guests were left to huddle uncomfortably close…I found a small counter, actually, the bar where a tiny selection of beers (kept in a Coca-Cola refrigerator) and wines were made available. The employees work in a family atmosphere, you could say a mom-and-pop production probably, due to the smaller means of the company.
Grace & Gloria is a story that takes place in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia. Grace is a 90-year-old woman dying of cancer, alone in her mountain house. Gloria was an ambitious career woman who has just followed her husband from New York and has chosen to volunteer with a local organization; she shows up to “help” Grace die. The two women learn to know each other as they share personal stories and beliefs.
The 77-year old Viola Leger plays Grace with humor & tenderness. It is so easy to understand why Mrs. Leger has endured as one of the most beloved actresses in the French-Canadian/Acadian world for so long. Danielle Grégoire plays Glory (affectionately nick-named by Grace early on) with efficiency however, I found her distant from the character she was portraying!.
This is a touching story where you cannot help but shed a tear but unexpectedly, laughter was also part of the experience thanks to the witty Mrs. Léger. Not having previously known the story, I thoroughly enjoyed it and so did the 200 or so theatergoers. The play lasted a solid two and half hours, but it felt more like 15 minutes, as I felt totally engrossed in story and the relationship between the two actresses.
The star of the play unknowingly attracted a Caucasian “crowd” over their 50s. I personally would have liked to see a more diverse crowd (age & race wise- there was only one Asian) as the play is after all a Life Lesson.
A note of disappointment, the invitation stated there were sub-titles for this play written by Tom Ziegler (the play translated by the prolific French-Canadian author Michel Tremblay). Unfortunately for the few Anglophones who came to see the play the sub-titles were nowhere to be read that evening.
