Outrage is a very difficult emotion to sustain. Therefore I attended the second of Porte Parole’s one-act plays about the collapse of the Concorde Bridge in Laval with some trepidation. This play about the search for justice was a much more difficult one to mount. The extraordinary thing was that all the talk about lawyers and government reports (and an amazing incarnation of Julius Grey) managed to be moving and theatrical as well as relevant.

From the moment France Rolland walked on stage and began to prepare a large Italian meal and Stephan Blanchette vacuumed the stage using only one hand, the audience was transfixed. Using a real stove and real time to cook, the theatre was overwhelmed with comforting cooking smells while the cast began to juxtapose these with the horrors of what had happened to these seemingly ordinary people.

Brett Watson and Maude Laurendeau-Mondoux reprise their roles as the two actors who are investigating this horrific incident. The bridge collapsed and five people died and six were injured, and the inquiry into the incident decided to call the horrible event a “car accident”. The government reasoned that the SAAQ of Quebec could then compensate the victims, and all would be forgotten. It was unconscionable that the compensation was so very little and the damage to real lives was so deep and unforgivable.

The people who lived through this and their families, were still terribly traumatized when they were encouraged by the actors to come to a collective decision about whether to mortgage their lives and relative emotional recovery to pursue a legal battle with what Julius Grey calls “City Hall”. In the light of recent allegations and admissions about corruption at city hall and ironically in the road and construction industries, this play is an idea whose time has come.

Alex Ivanovici performs an inspired Julius Grey. He morphs brilliantly into an engineer willing to speak at trial for the victims, and does an astonishing comic turn as a sleazy Quebecois journalist who specializes in mob connections and civil corruption.

France Rolland is terrific as Marie Mercadante, the Italian wife of one of the survivors, and evokes a laugh with her description of the eighty women she can call on to raise money for the cause. Her performance as the mother of one of the deceased is gently nuanced with despair.

Stephan Blanchette did solid work as Claude Goyette the grief ridden father of one of the victims, and he was terrific as Mohamed Umberthandi, the injured husband of Maria. Paul Stewart is wonderful as Paul Cousineau. Maude Laurendeau-Mondoux is energetic as Maude the actress who just wants to do something, but she is unforgettable in her portrayal of the wheelchair ridden Louise Bedard.

The gentle humanizing hand of Carole Fréchette is clearly felt in this piece and André Perrier adds direction that is imaginative and original. Once again Annabel Soutar has packed a political punch and delivered an intriguing piece of theatre. While plans to overhaul the Turcot Exchange in Montreal could affect the future of our city for decades to come, the good citizens of Montreal would be wise (and well entertained) to see this play.

Sexy béton II: Justice, by Annabel Soutar, has its last showing tonight at the Segal Centre studio, 5170 Côte Ste. Catherine Rd. Performances at 7:30 p.m. Tickets: $22 adults; $10 students and seniors. Call 514-739-7944. Sexy béton III: Abandon runs January 11 – 21, 2010.