The theatre is meant to be educational as well. It’s not always about sitting back and being entertained. Sometimes we are challenged to think. That’s a good thing.
Tamara Nguyen and Sophie Gee’s Bonnes Bonnes is a prime example of a recontextualized production that encourages its audiences to think for themselves about issues and values of stolen identities and empowerment.
I love the world play in the title. While it stems from Jean Genet’s 1947 play Les Bonnes (The Maids), I’m going to have some fun with other possible and interesting meanings. BONNES, BONNES could also mean MAIDS, MAIDS (who remembers the film version COUSIN, COUSINE and the title’s playfulness?). ‘Bonne’ also means good, so GOOD GOODS. The title could also mean GOOD MAIDS.
Three Chinese women (Sophie, Meilie, and Wai Yin) come together to make chilli sauce and watch a video adaptation Sophie has made of Jean Genet’s classic 1947 play Les Bonnes, a story of two Chinese women who play the maids and fantasize about their revenge on Madame. The three actors begin making the chilli sauce while they converse. They begin chopping and dicing the ingredients and place them in a saucepan on a hot plate. About 15 minutes into the production, I began to smell the garlic from the back of the house where my guest and I sat.
As the women talk and watch the film (pausing it periodically), questions about identity, colonization, and Western values are intertwined, and the audience sees how the three respond. The three women speak of hurt from long ago, grief, and how they, as adults, have responded to what happened and how they are able to move forward.
Factory Studio Theatre’s intimacy lends itself perfectly to the story. The raised audience seating area provides an optimal view of the staging. Amelia Scott and Elena Stoodley’s work in video, projection and sound is of prime importance. Maryanna Chan uses the stage to its fullest for visual impact. The juxtaposition of the newscast on the television in Chinese with the world in which the women now live provides a nice introduction to the women’s internal struggles as they grapple with Western values over the years and their true identity as Chinese women. Chan has done her homework in preparation for the multitude of props needed.
Nine Desbaillet’s soft lighting and subdued lighting work in tandem. There are a few dead spots where the actors are momentarily in complete darkness, which makes them hard to see.
Smartly directed by Sophie Gee, in collaboration with Tamara Nguyen’s relevantly apropos script, Bonnes Bonnes is another story of female empowerment, reclaiming their voices about the past and emphasizing the importance of not allowing them to be silenced again. Gee understands the importance of injecting necessary moments of humour (watch how one goes to meet the delivery guy at the door to pick up the food they ordered) into the sombre tale of stolen and forgotten identities. The on-stage work of Gee, Kwok and Ng, in connection with Charo Foo Tai Wei’s video performance and Holly Gauthier-Franke’s voice work, is intriguing to watch because nothing appears false. Emotional levels and intensity rise and fall cleanly, without resorting to histrionic yelling for impact.
The women continue their meal, drinking tea and end up role-playing to deal with issues they have confronted long ago. It’s touching to see the results of the role play.
Last week, the production was in English, and I was unable to attend. This week, it is in French. Twenty-first-century-looking headsets are provided for audience members so we can follow the action on stage while reading the English translation underneath.
While I have a working knowledge of French (my minor from Western many years ago), I truly appreciated having the English translation to help.
In her Programme Note, TFT Artistic Director Karine Ricard says the play allows audiences to recognize ambivalences, to see shame transformed into anger, anger into strength, and the possibility of a path towards healing. That is accomplished beautifully in this production. The three women ask for peace for themselves near the end of the play, step downstage and do something at the end that leaves the audience with a satisfying conclusion.
My guest and I left with smiles on our faces because we felt what needed to be said was said with dignity.
That’s a memorable time at the theatre.
Running time: 85 minutes.
The production runs to April 26 at Factory Theatre, 125 Bathurst Street, Toronto. For tickets: call (416) 504-9971 or visit https://www.factorytheatre.ca/shows/bonnes-bonnes/
A NERVOUS HUNTER CO-PRESENTED BY THÉÂTRE FRANÇAIS DE TORONTO and FACTORY THEATRE present
Bonnes Bonnes, co-written by Tamara Nguyen and Sophie Gee
Directed by Sophie Gee
Set and Props: Jessica Poirier-Chang
Sound: Christine ML Lee
Lighting: Nine Desbaillet
Projection and Video: Amelia Scott
Sound recording (video): Elena Stoodley
Performers: (On-stage) Sophie Gee, Wai Yin Kwok and Meillie Ng
(On video), Charo Foo Tai Wei, Holly Gauthier-Frankel
