Tableau d'Hôte turns 5 and unlocks the door on George F. Walker's shady Suburban Motel

Three thousand flyers to fold, 19 actors to direct, six plays to produce, five years to celebrate and one seedy motel room to contain it all. No one can say that Tableau d'Hôte isn't ambitious.

The little company that could turns 5 this fall. Instead of kicking back, eating some cake and taking a well-deserved breather, Tableau's decided to push the very limits of Montreal theatre.

Over three weeks, starting Nov. 10, they will stage all six one-act plays of George F. Walker's Suburban Motel cycle. It's a grand homage to a playwright who has deeply influenced the company and its co-founder, Mathieu Perron.

"The first George F. Walker play I encountered was Escape From Happiness," explains Perron, Tableau's general manager. "With that play I realized Canadian theatre existed. I hadn't ever really grasped the concepts of Canadian playwrights and Canadian theatre before that moment."

The Motel plays - Problem Child, Adult Entertainment, Criminal Genius, Featuring Loretta, The End of Civilization and Risk Everything - take a darkly humorous look at people on the margins of society. Walker's shady lodging provides a place for former prostitutes, crooked cops, scheming lawyers, lustful pornographers and addicts of all kinds to lay their weary heads. Throw in hefty portions of violence and it promises to be more fun than a roll of quarters and a vibrating bed.

"All of the stories are about people who are looking for something or
who have lost something and end up in this motel room to recover it," says Perron. "In his writing, [Walker] often wants to put his finger on the pulse of society and just figure out what the fuck is wrong with the world. There's that harshness and empathy that I love."

Tableau d'Hôte, kind and considerate company that they are, realize six plays may be a steep investment for audiences in these days of deflated stock portfolios. So they're offering the Motel Pass, which gets you in to all six shows for a measly $80. Suck on that, Holiday Inn.

Shameless plugs aside, Perron emphasizes that this ambitious undertaking is ultimately a celebration of Montreal and its theatre community.

"We've had enough people behind us, pushing us, encouraging us, that we felt comfortable enough to throw ourselves into this project. We thought, If we're going to do it, go big or go home."