This September and October, Bouche was kindly invited by the British Equity WSW London Office to lead some new play development activities. Taking advantage of this opportunity to introduce British artists to francophone Canadian and international works, we workshopped three translations.
The Naughty Children’s Bedtime Stories (Quebec, Canada) By Étienne Lepage | Translated by Jack Paterson
Eight horrible stories spring from the fertile imaginations two little good-for-nothings who refuse to go to bed. This play was 2015 French Language Governor Generals Award finalist.
About the playwright: Étienne Lepage Étienne Lepage is a multiple Governor General Award nominated playwright, screenwriter, translator, and transdisciplinary creator. Based in Montreal, his work has been presented across North America and Europe. His other writing includes Rouge Gueule, L’Enclos de l’éléphant, Ainsi parlait.
Special thank you to the wonderful artists Rosie Akerman, Eleanor Bennett, Joan Blackham, Viny Lad, Kavé Niku, Caroline Partridge Jay Ramji, Saria Steeland and James Watterson; Vancouver translator Leanna Brodie joining us a 6AM Vancouver time by Skype, and Lola May for organizing it!
Étienne Lepage is a playwright, screenwriter, translator and transdisciplinary creator. His work has been presented throughout North America and Europe. Among his many noted creations are Rouge Gueule, L’Enclos de l’éléphant, Ainsi parlait… and Histoires pour faire des cauchemars. This amazing richness and diversity of genre has lead to multiple awards and nominations. He collaborated several times director Catherine Vidal, notably for Robin and Marion, an adaptation of a pastoral, presented in 2012 at the Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui
Bobby Theodore is a screenwriter, playwright, and translator. Bobby’s worked on several TV series, including Murdoch Mysteries, Flashpoint, and Knuckleheads (an adaptation of the hit Québecois cartoon, Têtes à claques). He’s also written episodes for the acclaimed CBC radio drama, Afghanada. Nominated for a Governor General Award in 1999 for his translation of 15 Seconds by François Archambault, Bobby has now translated over 20 plays from French to English. For the stage, Bobby co-created 300 Tapes (with Ame Henderson), a devised performance that premiered at the Theatre Centre in Toronto and at ATP in Calgary, and he’s currently working on Swallow, a play set in the drama-filled world of minor hockey. His translation of François Archambault’s You Will Remember Me, which premiered at ATP and won a Betty Mitchell Award for Outstanding New Play, will be staged at Tarragon Theatre this spring. Bobby is the resident dramaturg and host of the Glassco Translation Residency in Tadoussac.
Alexis Diamond is a Montreal-based theatre artist and translator. Her award-winning plays, operas and translations for all ages have been presented across Canada and internationally. The 2018-19 season has seen the premiere of the family-oriented piece for orchestra and narrator Making Light, penned with Abigail Richardson (Calgary Philharmonic), and two other translations, for Talisman Theatre and Le Petit Théâtre de Sherbrooke. With composer Stephanie Moore, Alexis is currently creating Zoom-Boum-Boum, an electroacoustic piece for very young audiences (Jeunesses Musicales Canada). Little Witch and Amaryllis, her translation of Pascal Brullemans’Vipérine (Theatre Direct), will be published by Playwrights Canada Press in 2020.
In 2008, Guillaume Corbeil published a collection of short stories entitled L’art de la fugue (éditions L’Instant Même) that was shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award and recipient of the prix Adrienne-Choquette. In 2009, he published his first novel, Pleurer comme dans les films published by Leméac then in 2010 for Libre Expression, he wrote Brassard, a biography of the famous Director André Brassard. In 2011, he completed his training in playwriting at the National Theatre School of Canada. Since then, he has written for the stage Le Mécanicien, Tu iras la chercher, Unité modèle – which will be presented in 2016 Centre du théâtre d’aujourd’hui. Nous voir nous produced in 2013 by Pap theatre under the title Cinq visages pour Camille Brunelle and presented at Espace Go in Montréal, at the Théâtre de la Manufacture in Avignon and at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa. The play has been awarded le prix de la critique for Outstanding New Text, le prix Michel-Tremblay and the audience award at the Primeurs Festival in Saarbrücken, Germany. In September 2014, it was produced in German, at the Theater der Jungen Welt, Leipzig.
Larry Tremblay is a writer, director, actor and kathakali specialist. He is the author of over twenty books and is one of Quebec’s most produced and most translated playwrights. His work is noted for the diversity of genres it explores.
In 2001 his play The Ventriloquist had three separate productions, in Paris, Brussels and Montreal. The Montreal production, under the direction of Claude Poissant, garnered six “Gala des Masques” nominations, including Best New Play, and won the Masque for Best Production. The Ventriloquist, already translated into eight languages, has had recent productions in Turino, Mexico, Toronto, Ottawa, Bucarest and London (U.K.). Thanks to an uninterrupted succession of new plays (Anatomy Lesson, Ogre, The Dragonfly of Chicoutimi, The Genie of Drolet Street, Blue Hands, Soap, Bagpipes, Panda Panda…) Tremblay’s work continues to achieve international recognition. A Chair in love created with composer John Metcalf was the fourth of his works presented on stage in Montreal in 2006, following Three Seconds when the Seine Stopped Flowing, The Story of a Heart, and The Axe which he also directed. In 2007 he shared the stage with Carl Béchard performing in two of his shorter plays The Decline of Destiny and The Trouble with Me.
His novel The Bicycle Eater, published by Leméac, was unanimously saluted by the critics, won the Prix Roman 2003 at the Salon du Livres in Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean and was a finalist for the Governor General’s Award. In 2006 he was awarded the Canada Council Victor-Martyn-Lynch-Staunton Prize for his contribution to the theatre. Gallimard Paris published Piercing, a collection of three of his short stories. In 2008, Abraham Lincoln Goes to the Theatre premiered at Espace Go in Montreal, directed by Claude Poissant (Théâtre Pàp), and was nominated for Best Production 2007-2008 (Montreal) by the Quebec Critics Association.
Larry Tremblay was finalist in 2008 and in 2011 for the Siminovitch Prize. In 2010, Alberta Theatre Project produced at Calgary AbrahamLincoln Goes the Theatre, translated by Chantal Bilodeau, under the direction of Bob White. The same year, his play The Dragonfly ofChicoutimi was directed by Claude Poissant at the Festival TransAmériques (FTA), in Montreal. In 2012, SACD (Société des auteurs et compositeurs dramatiques), in partnership with France Culture, awarded his play, WarCantata, the Prix SADC for best world play written in French and CEAD (Centre des auteurs dramatiques) awarded it the Le Prix Michel- Tremblay for the best play written in Quebec in 2012. Still in 2012, his play Child Object was staged in Quebec City by Christian Lapointe. Apart from his plays, Larry Tremblay published recently two novels highly acclaimed, The Obese Christ and The Orange Grove.
Until 2009, Larry Tremblay was teaching acting and dramatic writing at l’École supérieure de théâtre de l’Université du Québec à Montréal.
Encounter/ Rencontre: Étienne Lepage, Playwright
Encounter/ Rencontre: Alexis Diamond, Translator
Encounter/ Rencontre: Guillaume Corbeil, Playwright
