''Les Belles-sœurs'' ("The Sisters-in-Law") is a two-act play written by

Michel Tremblay Michel Tremblay (born 25 June 1942) is a French-Canadian novelist and playwright. Tremblay was born in Montreal, Quebec, where he grew up in the French-speaking neighbourhood of Plateau Mont-Royal; at the time of his birth, a neighbourhood wit ...

in 1965. It was Tremblay's first professionally produced work and remains his most popular and most translated work. The play has had a profound effect on

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

language, culture and theatre. ''Les Belles-sœurs'' premiered at

Théâtre du Rideau Vert The Théâtre du Rideau Vert is a theatre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 4664 Saint Denis Street in the borough of Le Plateau-Mont-Royal. Founded in 1949 by Yvette Brind'Amour and Mercedes Palomino, the Théâtre du Rideau Vert wa ...

on August 28, 1968. It was directed by

André Brassard André Brassard (28 August 1946 – 11 October 2022) was a Canadian stage director, filmmaker and actor, best known for staging the vast majority of Michel Tremblay's plays. He was the director of the French section of the National Arts Center ...

and starred Denise Proulx, Odette Gagnon,

Denise Filiatrault Denise Filiatrault, (born May 16, 1931) is a Canadian actress and director. Biography Filiatrault attained star status on TV in the 1960s, co-starring with Dominique Michel in the Radio-Canada television series '' Moi et l'autre'' (1967–71) a ...

Rita Lafontaine Rita Lafontaine (8 June 1939 – 4 April 2016) was a Canadian theatre, film, and television actor. Born in Trois-Rivières, Quebec. She has been described as the muse of playwright Michel Tremblay and director André Brassard. Her career span ...

, Luce Guilbeault, Germaine Giroux and Nicole Leblanc among others, with set design by Réal Ouellette and costumes by François Barbeau. The English version, translated by John Van Burek and Bill Glassco, had its first run at the St. Lawrence Centre in Toronto on April 3, 1973 and starred Candy Kane,

Elva Mai Hoover Elva Mai Hoover is a Canadian actress. She is best known for her performance as Betty Fox in ''The Terry Fox Story'', for which she garnered a Genie Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the 5th Genie Awards, in 1984, and her televisio ...

Monique Mercure Marie Lise Monique Émond (14 November 193016 May 2020), better known as Monique Mercure (), was a Canadian stage and screen actress. She was one of the country's great actors of the classical and modern repertory. In 1977, Mercure won a Cann ...

, among others. The production was also directed and designed by André Brassard. The ''Canadian Theatre Encyclopedia'' describes the importance of the play in the following way:

The impact of this work is still being argued in Quebec today, but suffice it to say that it changed much of what was believed to be Quebec culture; language, the form of theatre, which plays should be done at which theatres, the displacing of the Old Guard... It set off a storm of controversy, firstly because of the language (a particularly raucous — some say vulgar — joual), and then because it dared to portray working class women doing working class things...

In 1980, Martin Bowman and Bill Findlay translated the play into contemporary Scots as ''The Guid Sisters''. Michael Boyd produced this adaptation for

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

Tron Theatre The Tron Theatre is located in the corner of Trongate and Chisholm Street, in what was formerly the Tron Kirk which had started as the Collegiate Church of Our Lady and St. Anne in the Trongate area of Glasgow, Scotland. The Tron Steeple still ...

in 1989 and it went on to play in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...

in 1990 and the

Centaur Theatre The Centaur Theatre Company is a theatre company based in Montreal, Quebec. It was co-founded in 1969 by Maurice Podbrey along with The Centaur Foundation for the Performing Arts. It currently has Eda Holmes as the Artistic and Executive Director, ...

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple ...

in 1992. It was revived by the

National Theatre of Scotland The National Theatre of Scotland, established in 2006, is the national theatre company of Scotland. The company has no theatre building of its own; instead it tours work to theatres, village halls, schools and site-specific locations, both at h ...

and the

Royal Lyceum Theatre The Royal Lyceum Theatre is a 658-seat theatre in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland, named after the Theatre Royal Lyceum and English Opera House, the residence at the time of legendary Shakespearean actor Henry Irving. It was built in 1883 by a ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

, in 2012. In 2018 it played at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, under the title ''The Unmanageable Sisters''.Abbey Theatre. What's on :The Unmanageable Sisters
/ref>

Translations

English: Glassco, Bill & John Van Burek, trans., ''Les Belles-Sœurs (English version)'' (Vancouver:

Talonbooks Talonbooks is an independent publisher of Canadian literature based in Vancouver, British Columbia. Its repertoire features authors writing in the literary genres of poetry, fiction and drama, as well as non-fiction books in the fields of ethnogra ...

, 1974, 1992) performance at St. Lawrence Centre, Toronto, 3 April 1973. German: Plocher, Hanspeter, trans., ''Schwesterherzchen'' (Tübingen: Niemeyer, 1987) performance at Romanistentheater der Universität Augsburg, 1987. Modern Scots: Bowman, Martin & Bill Findlay, trans., ''The Guid Sisters and Other Plays'' (London:

Nick Hern Books Nick Hern Books is a London-based independent specialist publisher of plays, theatre books and screenplays. The company was founded by the former Methuen drama editor Nicholas Hern in 1988. History Nick Hern Books was founded in June 1988,Sara ...

, 1991, . Of the three works in this edition, only one is rendered in the Scots language. Polish: Kwaterko, Józef, trans., ''Siostrzyczki'' (Revue / Dialog 8, 1990) performance Krakow television, Oct. 1993. Italian: Lemoine, Jean-René & Francesca Moccagatta, trans., ''Le Cognate'', in ''Il teatro del Québec'' (Milan: Éditions Ubulibri, 1994) performance at Teatro di Rifredi, Florence, 15 Feb. 1994. Yiddish: Anctil, Pierre & Goldie Morgentaler, trans., ''Di Shvegerius'' (Montreal: Saidye Bronfman Centre, 1992) and performed there June, 1992, as well as in Tel Aviv and Brooklyn. The play has been translated into about thirty other languages.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Belles-soeurs 1965 plays Plays set in Montreal Plays by Michel Tremblay Canadian plays adapted into films French-language plays