Gaz Bar Blues, Fighting Against Change
Header Picture by Danny Taillon, from the Duceppe Theatre
The play Gaz Bar Blues will be presented in French at the Duceppe theatre until February 18th. A theatrical adaptation of Louis Bélanger’s movie, it tells the story of a small traditional gas pump in 1989 where François Brochu –or “the boss”– and his children work and meet with a few regulars on the daily. There, they will come to witness the changes brought on inevitably with time; from when their prosperous station did not have problems and the children still worked with their father, to now, each of them going their separate way and their father having difficulty keeping their store in shape. Through the topic of change, the play explores how difficult it is to see what we assumed would always be there disappear.
In the middle of Duceppe’s stage stands the Gaz Bar, the gas pump station of the story. It physically rotates during the duration of the play to show all of its different sides but to also show how it has lost its past glory and is now changing and disappearing. The parallel between the ever-turning station and the quickly changing lives of our characters is evident; what seems to be eternal, a constant both on stage and in their lives, is in fact not, as the audience sees it rotate on and on and on, shifting each instant like Québec in the late 1900s.
At the front of the rotating station are other props like a table with chairs representing a kitchen or even the station’s refrigerator. Behind are different instruments like a drum set, a set of percussions, a saxophone and a keyboard piano. Even if only some of the actors are acting during a specific scene, the rest of them are on the sides, playing music to accompany the scene. This disposition allows us to always see what the actors that are not part of the scene are doing and it incorporates music directly into the play.
The first thing I really like about the play is the usage of music. Guy, one of François’s children is a harmonica player and he wishes to be a musician freely without having to work at the gas pump station. However, the topic of music does not stop there, each of the actors playing an instrument that represents their character: proud easy-going Guy plays the harmonica, his serious brother Réjean who dreams of other places plays the bass, and their confident and strong-willed sister Danielle plays the piano. The music was beautifully played and I was thoroughly impressed by how well it accompanied the play.
Furthermore, the setting of a small traditional gas pump really reminded me of the old-fashioned way Quebec used to be. It showed me a vision of the province from 1989 and how life was in small towns where everyone struggled to follow their dreams but they still loved and supported each other. The children each have dreams that diverge from their father’s: Guy wants to be a musician, Réjean wants to travel and be a photographer whereas their sister, Danielle, wants to take over the gas pump and be a mechanic; her father thinks she deserves better, that she can do so much better than work there for the rest of her life. François is getting old and is affected by Parkinson’s disease, and while his children don’t show it, they are afraid he will disappear just like the gas pump.
Through its delicate emotional moment and its more humorous ones, I adored the play and I consider it one of the best plays I have ever seen. I highly recommend you to go watch it, I personally hoped it would never stop and the music really blew my mind.
