The Baklawa Recipe by Pascale Rafie, translated by Melissa Bull

A loving portrait of women reaching out to each other for comfort, understanding and friendship.1960s Quebec juxtaposed with contemporary society seen through the immigrant lens. Two young Lebanese women emigrate from their homeland to start new lives in Ville-St-Laurent. Forever bound when they marry two Canada-born Lebanese brothers, they struggle to integrate the traditional female roles of their close-knit community with the emerging face of the independent woman of the feminist movement. The mothers and their first-generation Canadian daughters personify the challenges of living between two worlds: one shaped by their cultural origins and the other by their adopted home. Two generations of women, their joys and complexities, as warm and sweet as Baklawa.

https://vieuxmontreal.ca/en/events/the-baklawa-recipe

Centaur Theatre, Montreal, Quebec, 2018

Director

Written By Pascale Rafie
Translated by Melissa Bull
Directed by Emma Tibaldo
Set Design: Eo Sharp
Costume Design: Sonya Vallis
Lighting Design: Bruno Rafie
Sound Design: Nicolas Royer-Artuso
Sound: Peter Cerone
Movement Design: Leslie Baker
Stage Manager: Jacynthe Lalonde
Cast: Christina Tannous, Natalie Tannous, Eleanore Noble and Anne-Marie Saheb.

Montreal's Centaur Theatre Company launched its first main stage production of 2018 with the world premiere of The Baklawa Recipe last weekend. Playwright and drama professor Pascale Rafie originally developed this play in French, titling it La Recette de Baklawas. This compelling story pays homage to Rafie's Lebanese heritage and gives voice to a generation of women who have rarely had the chance to be heard. Rafie's strong themes of familial connection are further reinforced by the play's translation into its English version by her half-sister, Melissa Bull.

The story follows the lives of four Lebanese women, two mothers, Rita and Nadia, who immigrated to Ville Saint-Laurent in the 1960s and their daughters, Naïma and Fanny, who were born and raised in Canada. Pascal Rafie navigates 50 years of struggle, pain, joy and complex relationships between first and second-generation women through their shared experience of making Baklawa.

Rita, traditionally-minded and firmly planted in her Lebanese roots, struggles to support her sister-in-law Nadia, who slowly distances herself from their traditional beliefs and embraces a more Canadian lifestyle. While Rita seeks comfort in her former country's customs and ways, Nadia feels confined by the pressure of her Lebanese community to maintain her old identity. She seeks solace in singing and living a freer life, but her desire to explore the hybrid portrait of the Lebanese-Canadian woman is met with disapproval from those around her, leading her down a dark path of depression and despair. Daughters Naïma and Fanny continue to portray this struggle in their own lives, but have the added pressure of coping with the emotional stress created by Rita and Nadia's deteriorating relationship and gossip in the community. The daughters struggle with straddling two cultural identities, a challenge many Third-Culture-Kids often face.

The story unfolds through a series of phone calls, Skype conversations, monologues and short scenes. The lines are poetic in nature and time passes non-chronologically. Rafie truly captures the pain, struggle and ambivalence these women experience while raising important questions about cultural identity, community, traditions and "how to be a woman" in a new country and rapidly changing world. Her story-telling approach, although at times disorienting, allows her characters to communicate complex emotions through layers of poetry, song and soliloquy.

The Centaur has assembled an incredible, Montreal-based artistic ensemble to bring this complicated story to life. Director Emma Tibaldo has developed a cohesive and thoughtful creative team and leads a fantastic all-female cast. Movement designer, Leslie Baker, provides visually striking ensemble numbers, creating powerful statements through punctuated movement. Music composed by Nicolas Royer-Artuso and lighting by Bruno Rafie adds a haunting quality to the story. Eleanor Noble and Anne-Marie Saheb beautifully portray the struggle of second-generation immigrants in their touching presentations of Naïma and Fanny, while Christina Tannous, an accomplished opera singer, lends her beautiful voice to her character Nadia. Natalie Tannous has a standout performance with her touching, deeply personal and authentic representation of Rita. She provides much-needed levity at times and performs a breathtaking monologue towards the end of her character's story arc.

Maggie Owen - Broadway.com

META nominated

Antoine Sato