After all, Margaret Trudeau, reading from a music stand, spoke critically of her workaholic first husband, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and the father of Justin and Alexandre, whom, she said, did not encourage her latent feminism nor her interest in an independent career, forcing her to throw away magazines sent to her by Gloria Steinem and expecting her to play the role of a traditional political wife, a part she was too young and intelligent to play. She did not paint an unbalanced portrait, nor one lacking in affection for her first husband, a brilliant man of his time, she said, and a leader who moved Canada forward. But if you take away the political trappings around this family, you’d surely allow that it is rarely easy for any child to listen to one half of a divorced pair of parents describe the failings of another. And yet here they, we, all were.<doc-sep>Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will travel to Chicago this Mother's Day weekend with his family to take in his mom's one-woman show at The Second City. Margaret Trudeau's show, Certain Woman of an Age, is being featured at the UP Comedy Club at The Second City, a venue graced by many of America's top comedians over the years. The show will feature her telling her story, which reportedly includes reflections on her life and challenges therein, including her battles with bipolar disorder and marriage to Pierre Trudeau. The show is being presented as part of the renowned theatre's Wellness Week, which also includes workshops and seminars on the topic of mental health. As of Saturday morning, the evening's performance was sold out, but there were still $45 US tickets available for Sunday's matinee.<doc-sep>Share this Story: ‘My life has been extreme’: Margaret Trudeau speaks with candour in new one-woman show ‘My life has been extreme’: Margaret Trudeau speaks with candour in new one-woman show Although the show in Chicago was an attempt to de-stigmatize mental illness, there was defiance running through it, a refusal to be defined by the men in her orbit Photo by David Bloom file photo Article content CHICAGO — Fifteen minutes after striding in shiny red shoes to the centre of the stage of an intimate Chicago comedy club, Margaret Trudeau had those in attendance shouting something that sounded quite like fuddle duddle. “F— you! F— you! F— you!” chanted a gleeful audience at the debut of her one-woman show. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or ‘My life has been extreme’: Margaret Trudeau speaks with candour in new one-woman show Back to video Many of those in the crowd Thursday night did not know what they were in for when they bought tickets to watch Certain Woman of an Age, a sprawl of candid anecdotes from Trudeau’s storied life that she workshopped publicly for the first time at Chicago’s Second City, a club where some of America’s brightest comedy stars have earned their stripes. To keep everything hush-hush, she was put in a part of the hospital normally populated by men with erectile dysfunction Wearing jeans and a white shirt, reading a script, glasses on, and sometimes gripping the top of a black music stand with her left hand, Trudeau chatted for a straight hour-and-a-half to an audience of a couple hundred seated cabaret-style, as waiters circulated filling drink orders. The show’s run hasn’t sold out of its US $45 tickets, but on opening night only a few chairs were empty. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Those filling the seats might not have expected this sort of musing on modern feminism: “These days, young women are born into their own ‘f— yous.’” It’s a mantra that took her awhile to say aloud, she said, and so she encouraged everyone present to join her in it. Those in attendance — people like a pair of sisters sitting near the front who told the National Post their only knowledge of Trudeau came from the show’s description — might not have expected to see a medical image of her brain on a screen as she oscillated between embarrassing stories and reflections on how bipolar disorder shaped her life. Photo by CP PHOTO/Fred Chartrand Many, based on the crowd’s audible reaction, did not expect to hear that one of those comforting her at Pierre Trudeau’s funeral had been Fidel Castro. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Photo by Margaret Trudeau Kemper But they were hooked, if only for the relentless celebrity name-dropping — Mick Jagger, by the way, “was an elegant ass” — or the somewhat nerve-racking sense, as Trudeau jumped from one decade to another, of not quite knowing what she would say or do next, so you had better pay attention. One moment she was imitating Pierre by lowering her voice, sounding stern and frowning. Another moment she was describing how the Queen once saved her from tripping out of a curtsy. In another she was telling you she’d once fallen in love with Ted Kennedy. And the next she described being in a psych ward. Well, more like near a psych ward, because to keep everything hush-hush, she said, she was put in a part of the hospital normally populated by men with erectile dysfunction. Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content It was, in other words, a wild ride. “Some of you are probably here because you’ve heard of my son,” she had acknowledged at the start, pausing, “Kyle.” Kyle’s sister Alicia —both the product of Trudeau’s second marriage, to developer Fried Kemper — was in the front row Thursday, beaming with pride for her mother. Kyle’s half-brother Justin, the current prime minister of Canada, was a presence too, if not physically. His office did not respond to the Post’s question Thursday about whether a trip to the Windy City factors into his Mother’s Day plans. But his face was usually featured on one of several screens on either side of Trudeau’s lectern that displayed family photos for much of the performance. His mother mentioned him only a few times, noting for example that it was from her he’d gotten his “dramatic flair.” Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Article content Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang It was about an hour in, during an exploration of whether she believes in God, that Trudeau let her pride in the current prime minister shine brightest. Her faith in the great religions had waned, she recounted, after an audience she and Pierre had with the Pope in Rome resulted not in a spiritual discussion but in a literal pat on the head as he offered that she was “blessed among women” for bearing children. Ditto an interaction with the Dalai Lama in which, she says, he called her “the mother of the world.” “Two religious world leaders talking about me as an important mother figure. It was a little grandiose. It’s not like I went on to have some brilliant, incredible child, born on Christmas Day, who turned out to be the leader of a nation who can save the world,” she said, a nod to Justin, born Dec. 25. “Oh, and another Christmas baby,” she added, referring to Justin’s younger brother Sasha, who shares his birthday — “equally wonderful, to step in in case he doesn’t get it all done.” Advertisement Story continues below This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below.<doc-sep>CHICAGO -- Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his family are headed to Chicago this weekend to check out Margaret Trudeau's autobiographical one-woman show. A spokeswoman for the Prime Minister's Office confirms the PM will attend his mother's performance, titled "Certain Woman of an Age," at the Second City's UP Comedy Club. Second City's website describes the show as a "candid conversation" that sees Trudeau "tell her own unique story through her own words." The show is presented as part of the renowned theatre's "Wellness Week," which also includes workshops and seminars on the topic of mental health. Trudeau has been candid about her own struggles with bi-polar disorder, as an author, speaker and now performer. As of Saturday morning, the evening's performance was sold out but there were still US$45 tickets available for Sunday's matinee.<doc-sep>
Share this Story: BONOKOSKI: Margaret Trudeau’s Chicago debut of Certain Woman of an Age BONOKOSKI: Margaret Trudeau’s Chicago debut of Certain Woman of an Age Article content Prime Minister Justin Trudeau will zip off to Chicago this weekend and add even more to his increasingly heavy carbon footprint. But who can blame him for wanting some “personal time” to spend Mother’s Day with his dear old mom? We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or BONOKOSKI: Margaret Trudeau’s Chicago debut of Certain Woman of an Age Back to video In fact, he can be forgiven this time for his carbon footprint taking another hit, because his mom is apparently getting raves as a star of stage. Margaret Trudeau, wife of a former PM and mother of today’s, has been in Chicago at the UP-Comedy Club at its Famous Second City doing test runs of her new autobiographical one-woman show, Certain Woman of an Age, written with the help of Alix Sobler and directed by Kimberly Senior. Second City is a pretty heady venue for trial performances but, then again, Margaret Trudeau, now 70, is a pretty interesting feline. Thanks to being in the business since manual typewriters were the norm, it enables me to revisit the day many years go when I was sent to New York City to track down Maggie Trudeau after she had famously grabbed up her kids and bolted from her marriage to the sitting prime minister, Pierre Elliott Trudeau. Article content She was like an attractive pop-up doll, appearing suddenly all over the place and at any time of the day, with rock stars (the Rolling Stones) on one day, and celebrities (Andy Warhol) on another, and always at in-spots that drew in the in-crowd, as in Toronto’s El Mocambo and New York’s Studio 54. I heard she was going to appear on Good Morning America television show, so I ordered a transcript of her appearance that was ready two hours. More journalists should have done the same because they missed the real story and how Margaret Trudeau explained for the first time why she ran off to escape from a husband who was 30 years her senior. It was a reason no one would have guessed. More On This Topic BONOKOSKI: Justin Trudeau and Jason Kenney, no one would call them BFFs GOLDSTEIN: Trudeau was Teflon, now he’s Velcro KINSELLA: Trudeau government trying to cover its tracks Article content It was the sudden death in a helicopter crash, in February of 1977, of her friend Queen Alia of Jordan at the age of 28, and Margaret Trudeau’s realization right then and there that life was far too short. The second reason would not come out for years, and that was her yet-to-be diagnosis for mental illness, and in particular bipolar disease which, back in the not-so enlightened Seventies, was called schizophrenia. Back then it was scary and horribly misunderstood. For more than 30 years now, however, Margaret Trudeau has been a huge advocate for mental-health wellness, and uses her disarming charm to put herself out there unselfishly to make sure the cause gets heard. How candid will she be in Certain Woman of an Age? Well, as she told Chicago Tribune critic Chris Jones, “I talk about little manic incidents,’ she said. “I talk about denial-I only denied for 25 years-and I talk about my times in the psychiatric hospitals and the horrors of all that. “I talk about there was no living for me if I did not get the help I needed” Photo by Sean Kilpatrick / The Canadian Press Margaret Trudeau unusually took her script onto the stage with her when she performed the test runs of Certain Woman of an Age, and promised to bring the audience into play-which she did with some edge at Friday’s debut. She had the entire audience, half of them women of Margaret Trudeau’s vintage, joining her in yelling F-k You! at the top of their lungs. Leave it to Maggie markbonokoski@gmail.com Share this article in your social network The Toronto Sun Headline News Sign up to receive daily headline news from the Toronto SUN, a division of Postmedia Network Inc. Email Address There was an error, please provide a valid email address.