THE SHOE
By David Paquet | Translated by Leanna Brodie
with British Equity WSW London Branch (London, UK)
International Remote New Translation Workshop 2020
In association with
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).
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. With Benoit, nothing is ever simple… 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.
About the playwright
David Paquet
As a child, David Paquet (he, him, his) would make up stories for his three faithful imaginary friends. That love of storytelling took him to the National Theatre School, where he studied writing. In 2010, audiences discovered his unique voice and dark humour in Porcupine (Governor General’s Literary Award, Michel Tremblay Prize). For teenage audiences, he wrote 2 h 14 and Appels entrants illimités, and co-wrote Les grands-mères mortes, presented at the NAC in 2015. That same year he ventured onto the stage with his poetic solo show, Papiers mâchés. Histoires à plumes et à poils is his first play for children.
About the translator
Leanna Brodie
Leanna Brodie (she, her, hers) 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. www.leannabrodie.com
About our partner
British Equity
WSW London Branch
The West and South West London Branch of Equity UK. Equity is the UK trade union for professional performers and creative practitioners.