Down Dangerous Passes Road by Michel Marc Bouchard, translated by Linda Gaboriau

Carl has returned to Alma to get married fifteen years to the day since their father, a drunk and a poet, drowned. On the morning of the wedding Victor takes his brothers on a trip to his isolated fishing camp in the Quebec woods. On the way they have a tragic truck-wreck near where their father died. Down Dangerous Passes Road traces the consequences of this event.

Down Dangerous Passes Road was written in 1998, it is Bouchard's ninth play. In 2000 it was translated by Linda Gaboriau. This is the story of three brothers who come from vastly different walks of life.The play takes place in an eternal moment of deja-vu and examines three lives struggling for a final moment of lucidity. This is a frank play about guilt and death; as Ambrose says: Nobody's as frank as a dying man.The story unwinds on a logging road in a strange limbo where there are no mosquitos. In a state of delayed shock after an accident, they reenact the trauma of their father's death, each from his own perspective.

In his Prologue to Down Dangerous Passes Road, Bouchard draws our attention to the way we hide from the realities of guilt and death, protecting ourselves behind illusions and routines. The play shows how the complicated games of lies and truth we play in our relationships can precipitate us into unforseen situations. With simple words, and in a simple setting, Bouchard evokes a gripping, multi-layered, allegorical commentary on Quebec culture through three brothers bound together by the death of their father.


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Talisman Theatre, Théâtre Lachapelle, Montreal, QC. 2008

Director

Text / Texte : Michel Marc Bouchard
Translator / Traduction : Linda Gaboriau
Director / Mise en scène : Emma Tibaldo.

ACTORS / ACTEURS :
Ambrose : Marcelo Arroyo; Carl : Patrick Costello;Victor : Graham Cuthbertson.

DESIGNERS / CONCEPTEURS :
Set / Décor : Lyne Paquette
Costumes / Costume : Lyne Paquette
Lighting / Éclairage : David Perreault Ninacs, Sarah Yaffe
Sound / Son : Michael Leon
Video / Vidéo : Mireille Couture
Movement / Mouvement : Rasili Botz.

AQCT : "D'une appréciable sobriété, ce spectacle s'appuyait avant tout sur le jeu de l'acteur. Graham Cuthbertson, Marcelo Arroyo et Patrick Costello ont livré des interprétations sensibles et nuancées. Dans une scénographie aussi dépouillée qu'évocatrice, le moindre de leurs déplacements était chargé de sens. En se mesurant dans la langue de Shakespeare aux auteurs francophones contemporains du Québec, et qui plus est avec doigté, le Talisman Theatre pourrait bien contribuer à réunir les deux solitudes."--Christian Saint-Pierre

The Gazette : "As automobile accident plays go, Michel Marc Bouchard's Down Dangerous Passes Road rises above, into the ethereal. And the Talisman Theatre production of this poetic work, translated into English by Linda Gaboriau... does an admirable job of bridging the cultural gap that often hinders French-language Quebec plays from making a smooth transition into English [...] With this kind of play, less is more when it comes to staging. Lyne Paquette's set, which consists of giant sheets of parchment, with words scrawled in longhand, is just right. These 'pages' serve as screens for cinematic images that enhance the intense dramatic confrontations. In some ways this modest effort outshines the original French production... [...] Director Emma Tibaldo has delivered a meaningful introduction to a lesser work by the playwright..."--Pat Donnely,

Winner, Best English Theatre Production, 2008-09, Prix de la critique, l’AQCT, Québec

Talisman Theatre