Terminal Blues (1984)

The National Arts Centre Theatre Company produced an English adaptation of Denis Bouchard's La déprime on the National Arts Centre's stage in 1985. First produced by Le Klaxon four years earlier, the play received its debut at Théâtre de La Licorne in Montreal by Remy Girard, Raymond Legault and Julie Vincent. The NAC production was translated by Maureen LaBonte, adapted by David King and Larry Lillo, and directed by Larry Lillo under the title Terminal Blues. The play takes place in the Ottawa bus terminal, while the French language production was set in a Voyageur bus terminal in Montreal.

The notes shared in the programme offer a scene-setting description:

"During the course of one day, the many varieties of mankind drift through the Ottawa Bus Terminal in various stages of emotional and physical disarray! From the endlessly bickering married couple to the over-amiable bus driver and his wife; from the anxious bridegroom desperately trying to reach his own wedding to the salesman of sex aids who has lost his suitcase of samples, Terminal Blues examines the funny side of life in all its contradictions and contortions!"

The maquette, created by Lesley Macauley, represents the bus terminal, with a ticket counter, benches, payphones on the wall, and signage directing passengers around the station. There were a few pieces loose on the maquette, notably a poster, a calendar, a clock, and bench. The students were unable to figure out where the poster and calendar were placed, so they placed them in the corner of the maquette where they would not suffer further damage or get lost. They tried to do the same with the clock, but it was stuck to the ground. To avoid damaging the maquette, they left it where they found it. 

The maquette is very detailed, but this also made it quite fragile for cleaning and preservation work. It is also one of the largest maquettes in the collection, which meant it could not be easily take it out of the box, and only did so for photos.

To clean the maquette, the students working on the Terminal Blues maquette used a microfibre cheesecloths, brushes and an air blower. The most dust and dirt seemed to be between the floor tiles, which they cleaned carefully with small brushes. During the cleaning process and when putting the maquette back into storage, they removed strain from the hanging signs, one of which was already breaking, by resting them on the sturdier set pieces below. However, they were put into their original hanging position for the photos. Some pieces of the set, namely two posters and a clock, had fallen off the walls.