In case anyone needed a reminder about the urgency of Montréal’s infrastructure problems, this July, a concrete slab fell from the Marriot Residence Hotel and smashed through to the sushi restaurant below, killing a 33-year old woman and injuring her husband. According to a Montreal Gazette article, published August 21, the owner of the hotel had still not produced a safety report. Also over the summer, a block of concrete from the Turcot Exchange fell onto a construction worker below, injuring him. The enormity of the issues at stake have been the challenge for Sexy béton all along. There is the human aspect: lives lost, on Peel Street, and of course, three years ago, at the Concorde overpass. We cannot talk about these issues without being sensitive to those who’ve suffered. There is also the technical complexity of these incidents: if it’s even possible to fully understand the engineering and maintenance flaws involved, it becomes apparent that no two tragedies are the same. Just like the actors in Sexy béton, we want to pin blame on somebody, but responsibility is a complicated business.
Because the issues are so serious, talking about them – or even staging a production about them – appears like it must also be serious. Consequently, not fun. And that’s exactly where Porte Parole wants to elevate the discussion. There is intrigue, humour, and excitement in grappling with Montreal’s long history of infrastructure problems. Our goal in the recent overhauling of the script for Sexy béton was to prove just that.
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