Rock, Paper, Jackknife by Marilyn Perreault; translated by Nadine Desrochers

A shipment of alcohol is dumped on the icy shore of the far north, along with four young stowaways. The refugees are unable to communicate with the inhabitants of the remote settlement, which forces onto the local nurse, who speaks their language, the responsibility for their integration. Neither the refugees nor the introverted tutor can find respite from the clutches of isolation, suffering, and boredom leading them to seek a means of escape. Largely narrated through childlike metaphors, and similes, the play explores their struggle in a destabilizing and deeply emotional way. The opening and closing scene is as bleak as any in Wuthering Heights complete with the wind knocking something at the door, blood on the bedclothes, and an otherworldly voice saying "I will come home”. Subtley, in the guise of Ali's ten-year-old girl’s voice, Rock, Paper, Jackknife... pierces the audiences' defences, touching a nerve of immediacy rarely touched. Ali's narration, though unsophisticated, is allegorical, rich in poetry, and filled with a looming presence.
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Talisman Theatre, Brave New Looks, Centaur Theatre, Montreal, QC. 2009

Talisman Theatre, Brave New Looks, Centaur Theatre, Montreal, QC

Director

Text / Texte : Marilyn Perreault
Translator / Traduction : Nadine Desrochers
Director / Mise en scène : Emma Tibaldo.

ACTORS / ACTEURS :
Mielke : Julie Tamiko Manning; Nox : Rockne Corrigan; Ali : Stefanie Buxton; Taymore : Alex McCooeye; Sola : Lucinda Davis.

DESIGNERS / CONCEPTEURS :
Set / Décor : Lyne Paquette
Costumes / Costume : Fruzsina Lanyi
Lighting / Éclairage : David Perreault Ninacs
Sound / Son : Michael Leon
Movement / Mouvement : Rasili Botz.

The Concordian
Alienation, Isolation, and Despair
Drugs, alcohol , rape and murder are all themes dealt with in the unsettling Rock, Paper, Jackknife.

Rack, Paper. Jackknifa.__ the latest production from Talisman Theatre willoha•we you bmisting in your seat as playwright Marilyn Perreault explores tne pyrversion or the hunan mind and the extremes it is capable of.
Beyond tha perplexing dialogue. written entirely in metaphor and childlike phrases. the play has a profound message about solitude and the human mind.
Originally written in French, the play is mastertuIIy translated by
Nadine Desrochers and well directed by Emma Tibaldo.
Taking place over 32 days of confusion and chaos, the play fallows four young stowaways who arrive in the middle of nowhere aboard an alcohol freighter. The youngsters are surrounded by blinding snow in a community who not speak their language.
Fortunately, one nurse, Mielke (Julie Tamiko Manning), does speak their language and proceeds to teach the group of troubled refugees the way of their new home, despite her afflictions and having run away from a murdered family The abandoned freighter is used as a classroom for Mielke to teach the four stowaways. Mostly narrated by Mielke. the play follows her efforts to care for the young refugees. Passionately delivered by Manning, Mielke's sympathetic struggles are delivered with a truthtuIIy painful conviction, as she becomes consumed by her role as Educator. Mielke however, has issues of her own as seen through her daily battle with alcoholism. Ultimately, she is a woman fleeing to the outer extremes of the world to escape the secrets condemned within her. Responsibility ties her to these four characters and she becomes entwined in their collective web of individual insanity.
Bombarded with fast-paced scenes and distorted electric guitar, the plot follows the worsening circumstances or the characters. The cluttered props of boxes and desks. the inside of the desolate freighter, captivate the audience rather than the theme that presides over this story which is rather ornate.
The young refugees ara played to perfection, especially Stephanie Buxton's Ali. Her role is most impressive becausa Ali speaks in incessant babbling. which Buxtton delivers with convincing realism. Seemingly the youngest of the four newcomers, She displays her endured hardship with non-stop chatter similar to that of a 10-year old child. Ali's giant of an older brother, Tayrnore, played by Alex MCCooey with rousing talent and remrkable presence, is her polar opposite. He remains silent for the majority of the play, although his character, exemplifying repression and schizophrenia, proves to be one of the most disturbing roles in this glimpse of social disintegration.

Symbolic extremes
Brett Hooton - The Hour

Talisman Theatre takes on Marilyn Perreault's story of innocence and violence in Rock, Paper, Jackknife...
The world is full of people who spend their time quietly doing amazing things. Day after day, they accomplish the extraordinary with seemingly as much effort as if they were crossing "eggs" and "milk" off their grocery list.
Emma Tibaldo is one of these subtle superheroes. Among her not-so-secret identities, she is the artistic and executive director of Playwrights' Workshop Montreal, a highly sought-after director and a founding member of Talisman Theatre. Now, as part of Centaur's Brave New Looks series, she and her company are putting on what could be the most challenging play of the entire season: Rock, Paper, Jackknife...
"I love metaphor and I think what theatre does best is metaphor," explains Tibaldo about her ambitious, allegorical production. "It's live and I feel it needs to speak on a different level than just realism. Theatre can be realistic and that's great, but my heart lives in this place."
The "place" currently in question is a fictional village in "the Great North," where five young stowaways have just arrived after escaping their war-torn home. Written by Québécois actor and playwright Marilyn Perreault, the play follows the children as they navigate a foreign culture while coming to terms with their own traumatic pasts.
"For me, it's a gut-wrenching look at fear and violence from the point of view of the people living it," says Tibaldo. "[Perrault] doesn't give a solution to anything, but she does pose a question: Where does violence come from?"
Leaping building-sized themes is what theatre does best, but Rock, Paper, Jackknife... goes even further. The script stretches language itself by twisting grammar and using words in unconventional ways. The result is a more visceral and innocent form of expression.
"Hopefully, people will understand the play's language as images that are coming at them, without getting too caught up in the details - just receive it as a big thing that hits them," Tibaldo explains.
Although people may not understand everything that's going on in one sitting, the director hopes the topics raised from violence and homelessness to segregation and First Nations issues - ring true for audiences.
"In the end, it's a story about hope," she says, "and that as human beings, as long as we breathe and think and feel, there's always a possibility of changing our actions and the way we react to one another."
A show that's dark, poetic and hopeful? All in a day's work for Tibaldo and her Talisman sidekicks.

Talisman Theatre