''Les Belles-sœurs'' (; "The Sisters-in-Law") is a two-act play written by Michel Tremblay 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 is Canada's List of Canadian provinces and territories by area, largest province by area. Located in Central Canada, the province shares borders with the provinces of Ontario to the west, Newfoundland and Labrador to the northeast, ...

language, culture and theatre. Set in Montreal in the 1960s, the plot involves a woman who, having won an enormous quantity of

trading stamp Trading stamps were small paper stamps given to customers by merchants in loyalty programs in the United States, Canada and the U.K. which predated the modern loyalty card-based and online programs. Like the similarly-issued retailer coupons, these ...

s in a sweepstakes, throws a "stamping party", with her female relatives and some neighbourhood women invited. As the women paste the stamps into booklets, they bicker, banter, critique, and argue about their problems, circumstances, and everything wrong with the world. ''Les Belles-sœurs'' premiered at Théâtre du Rideau Vert on August 28, 1968. It was directed by André Brassard 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 ...

, Rita Lafontaine, 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,

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 is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

's Tron Theatre in 1989 and it went on to play in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

in 1990 and the Centaur Theatre in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

in 1992. It was revived by the National Theatre of Scotland and the Royal Lyceum Theatre,

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

, in 2012. In 2018 it played at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, under the title ''The Unmanageable Sisters''. A production of Les Belles-Soeurs was performed at the Stratford Festival in Stratford, Ontario during its 2023 season. '' Sisters and Neighbors! (Nos Belles-sœurs)'', a film adaptation directed by René Richard Cyr, premiered in theatres in July 2024.Manon Dumais
"À la gloire des ménagères"
'' La Presse'', July 10, 2024.

Translations

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

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, 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. 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 Play (theatre), plays, theatre books and screenplays. The company was founded by the former Methuen Publishing, Methuen drama editor Nicholas Hern in 1988. History Nick Hern ...

, 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

Kraków , officially the Royal Capital City of Kraków, is the List of cities and towns in Poland, second-largest and one of the oldest cities in Poland. Situated on the Vistula River in Lesser Poland Voivodeship, the city has a population of 804,237 ...

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