During this current period of uncertainty, it is with a special gratitude to Canada Council for the Arts and a special pleasure to be able to suport freelance and independent artists.
Francophone Canadian playwrighting is on forefront of international playwriting – their work is translated and presented all over the world. It is particularly hard to describe the unique “Langue D’Auteur” created by Francophone Canadian artists as there is nothing quite like it in Western English Language theatre. Imagine Shakespeare, Moliere, Sarah Kane and Martin Crimp smashed together on the page. The poetic or expressionistic are side by side with gritty realism and the mundane often becomes the fantastical. Ancient words, made up words, verse, prose, Joual (everyday Quebecois), other francophone dialects, all literary devices, often the live next to each other on the page.
Running Time:
1 hr 30 min
Characters:
3 M
This translation was made possible by a grant from Canada Council for the Arts.
THE HARDINGS
By Alexia Bürger | Translated by Alexis Diamond
Translated from LES HARDINGS (Quebec, Canada)
“Pure genius – we are dealing with the work of an authentic artist, an artist whose intelligence is matched only by sensitivity” – Le Devoir
“… a perfect mix of intelligence and emotion. At the heart of the show is one of the most delicate questions: when tragedy strikes, who I responsible?” – The Sun
“…an enormously powerful and touching piece… an important theatrical experience…” – Mazrou
A Quebecois railway worker, an American insurance salesman and a New Zealander researcher have the same name: Thomas Harding. On the surface, they have nothing in common. Until one night, a train derails blowing up a city. The invisible tracks that connect these three existences begin to reveal themselves. Inspired by the documentary material, Alexia Boerger questions conformism and the individuals’ responsibility when tragedy strikes.
Les Hardings premiered Centre du Théâtre d’hui (2018). It received the Prix auteur(e) dramatique du CTD’A and was selected by Jury of Grand Prix du livre de Montréal 2019.
This translation was made possible by a grant from Canada Council for the Arts.
LES HARDINGS (2018) | Produced by Centre du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui; Directed by Alexia Bürger;
Dramaturgy by Fanny Britt; Featuring Martin Drainville, Patrice Dubois, Bruno Marcil
Photo Credit: Le Petit russe
About the Playwright
ALEXIA BÜRGER
ALEXIA BÜRGER (She, Her, Hers) is a Montreal actor, playwright and director. A long-time accomplice of Olivier Choinière, Alexia co directed Chante avec moi (Espace Libre / Festival TransAmériques / Centre National des Arts / Le Trident) and Polyglotte (Théâtre Aux Écuries / Festival TransAmériques). She co-created Alfred (Centre du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui) with Emmanuel Schwartz. She co created the theatrical ambulatory Je ne m’appartiens plus (Espace Go) with Sophie Cadieux. She has worked on numerous installations combining fictitious and documentary material, visual art and sound research, such as Pensées courantes (Centre du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui lobby over the 2016/2017 season). In 2017, she directed Les barbelés in France (Théâtre La Colline) which was revived in Quebec (Théâtre de Quat’Sous). In 2018, Alexia and collaborator Fanny Britt, won the Jean-Louis Roux Creative Fellowship of the Théâtre du Nouveau Monde for writing Lysis.
About the Translator
ALEXIS DIAMOND
Alexis (She, Her, Hers) is an anglophone theatre artist, opera and musical librettist, translator and theatre curator working on both sides of Montréal’s linguistic divide. Her award-winning plays, operas and translations have been presented across Canada, in the U.S. and in Europe. She also collaborates internationally with artists on performance-installations involving text, movement and sound. In 2018, Alexis began a multiyear collaboration with professor Erin Hurley (McGill University) and Emma Tibaldo (Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal) researching the history of English-language theatre in Québec. In May 2019, Alexis Diamond served as co-artistic director of the famed Festival Jamais Lu, where she presented the mostly French-language Faux-amis with co-author Hubert Lemire, supported by CALQ. Her theatre translations are also in wide circulation: upcoming tours include The Problem with Pink by Érika Tremblay-Roy, published by Lansman (Le Petit Théâtre de Sherbrooke), and Pascal Brullemans’ The Nonexistant (DynamO Théâtre). Three translations were presented in the 2018-19 season (for Geordie Productions 2Play-Tour, Talisman Theatre and Le Petit Théâtre de Sherbrooke). Her translation of Pascal Brullemans’ plays for young audiences, Amaryllis and Little Witch, was just published by Playwrights Canada Press. Currently the Quebec Caucus representative for the Playwrights Guild of Canada, she is co-founder of Composite Theatre Co. and a long-standing member of Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal. She has a B.A. in Creative Writing (Concordia University) and an M.A. in English Studies (Université de Montréal).(Université de Montréal). Alexis has translated two of Marie-Claude’s other plays, Je n’y suis plus (I’m Not Here) and Andy’s Gone. www.compositetheatre.com
