TNO brings an 'idiot' to dinner

For 30 years, Théâtre du Nouvel Ontario (TNO) has hosted amateur theatre as a way of involving the community in its productions. The annual production has become so popular, TNO officials advise buying tickets early.

Starting Jan. 27, TNO will present a comedy in French, Le dîner de cons (The Dinner Game), released in 1988 by France’s Francis Vebe. It features local amateur actors Lyanne Bouffard-Alberton, Denis Bertrand, Sylvie Harrison, Marc Huneault, Alexandre Matte, Adam Pokorn and Daniel Robillard.

The story revolves around Pierre Brochant (played by Matte), a famous Parisian publisher. He attends a weekly dinner where guests are each to bring an “idiot,” so that the other guests can make fun of them. At the end of the dinner, a champion idiot is selected.

The “idiot,” played by Huneault, is passionate about building replicas of famous buildings, such as the Tower of London and the Eiffel Tower, with matchsticks. But then things go awry.

Matte said it is his first time in a big role. By day, he is the director of finance for Carrefour francophone.

“I had a smaller role in a community theatre in Ottawa I helped found,” Matte said. “Here we have the professional help (with TNO staff) that helps us look as professional as possible. This is very different from what I do every day.”
The opposite is true for another amateur actor.

Chelmsford’s Robillard who plays a finance minster official, works as a Revenue Canada appeals officer in real life.

“(In the play) I work at the Finance Ministry in Paris,” Robillard said. “It is fun to play a character that involves material that is very familiar to me. He is the finance official who brings a fellow employee he despises to the dinner.”
He is also involved with Gang à Popa, a comedy troupe from the Valley.

Bertrand, vice-president of francophone affairs at 50 Carleton downtown, plays a doctor in the play.

“I am one of the elite,” Bertrand said. “My character is used to attending these dinners. At one (previous) dinner I brought the ugliest woman.”

Bertrand admitted the play’s content is controversial but insisted it is meant as a comedy.

“The play is very funny but it is not politically correct,” he added.

Tickets are selling fast, said Genevière Pineault, TNO artistic director.

“Fifty per cent of the tickets are sold already,” she said. “Last year our amateur production sold out in advance.”
She said comedies, like The Dinner Game, are popular at TNO.

Eight performances are scheduled for The Dinner Game, from Jan. 27 to 30 and Feb. 3 to 6, at 8 p.m. nightly, at TNO’s 105-seat theatre at Collège Boréal, 21 Lasalle Blvd. Tickets are $20/adults, $15/seniors(55 and up) and students, $10/teens (13-17). Phone 525-5606.