International New Translation Workshop in Isolation
THE SHOE
By David Paquet | Translated by Leanna Brodie
with British Equity WSW London Branch
Special thanks to Lola May, Natasha Mendez, David Mildon, Caroline Moroney (London, UK), Sonja Zobel (Salzburg, Austria), translator Leanna Brodie (Vancouver, Canada) and playwright David Paquet (Montreal, Canada).
Synopsis:
Melanie’s son Benoit, age 8, has a pain that won’t go away, so she takes him to the dentist. Naturally, this results in an epic meltdown. You see, with Benoit, nothing is ever simple. So of course, the dentist discovers that Benoit has a lot more than cavities inside his mouth… In the end, Melanie – with the help of a kindly alcoholic receptionist, and a dentist who prefers plants to people – must face the fact that her son’s problems are much larger than a simple toothache. Le Soulier is a bipolar comedy, a hilarious and unsettling play in which empathy triumphs over illness.
Cast size: 2F/2M
“…this show crystallizes the revival of Quebec’s feminist theatre, it is a vibrant homage to art, the place of women to challenge everything, to turn everything upside down, to move from the shadows to the light, from death to life, from imprisonment to freedom.” – Le Devoir
ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT: DAVID PAQUET
David Paquet’s first play Porc-épic received Canada’s highest literary award The Governor General’s French Language Drama Award. It has been performed in Montreal, Germany, Mexico, Austria, France and Belgium. For teenage audiences, he wrote 2h14 and Appels entrants illimités, and co-wrote Les grands-mères mortes, presented at the French language National Arts Centre . That same year he ventured onto the stage with his poetic solo show, Papiers mâchés. In addition to his approach to dramatic writing, he also touched on slam, storytelling, poetry, prose and spoken word.
ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR: LEANNA BRODIE
Leanna Brodie is an actor, playwright, and translator whose passions include lifting up the stories and voices of women, and championing a new generation of French-Canadian playwrights by transmitting their extraordinary theatrical visions into the English language. Her original plays The Vic, For Home and Country, The Book of Esther, and Schoolhouse (Talon Books) have been performed across Canada. Her translations include Christian Bégin’s After Me and Why Are You Crying?; Louise Bombardier’s My Mother Dog; Annie Brocoli’s Stardust; Rébecca Déraspe’s You Are Happy, I Am William, and Gametes; Amélie Dumoulin’s Violette; Sébastien Harrisson’s From Alaska and Two-Part Inventions; Catherine Léger’s Opium_37 and I Lost My Husband!; David Paquet’s Wildfire and The Shoe; Olivier Sylvestre’s The Paradise Arms; Philippe Soldevila’s Tales of the Moon; Larry Tremblay’s Panda Panda; and multiple plays by Hélène Ducharme of Théâtre Motus, whose acclaimed Baobab continues to tour China and the Americas after more than 600 performances.
