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VIRTUAL GOLD
Western Gold presents a series of FREE online presentations, podcasts, and creative workshops to help keep you engaged and entertained during these challenging times.
Click here for Western Gold Theatre’s most recent Virtual Gold offerings!
DATE
Sunday, August 29, 2021
TIME
PT: 2 PM
MT: 3 PM
CT: 4 PM
ET: 5 PM
AT: 6PM
RUNNING TIME
1 hr 20 mins with talk back to follow.
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WESTERN GOLD THEATRE
IN ASSOCIATION WITH BOUCHE THEATRE COLLECTIVE & THE CANADIAN PLAY THING
WESTERN GOLD:
THE BALLAD OF GEORGES BOIVIN
By Martin Bellemare | Translated by Jack Paterson with Johanna Nutter
Translated from LE CHANT DE GEORGES BOIVIN (Quebec, Canada)
“Admirably well-constructed, Le chant de Georges Boivin intimately reveals the experiences of an elderly person with great finesse and delicacy.” – Jury of Prix Gratien-Gélinas 2009
“…a theatrical road-movie brimming with vulnerability…the play destroys any prejudice that older people are devoid of passionate. Even after great loss, love is possible.” – Alix Forgeot, L-Express.ca
At 77, Georges Boivin “gives the dice a roll”. Georges just lost his wife, you see, the “centre of his universe”. He’s terrified “he’s no longer exists for anyone”. But there is life after 70 and it must continue even after great loss. With his three friends, all the same age as he, he sets out on road trip from Québec to Vancouver, in search of his first love who he hasn’t seen in 50 years.
Featuring Paul Beckett, Jay Brazeau, John Innes and Allan Morgan
Translation Dramaturgy by Johanna Nutter.
This translation and workshop were made possible by grants from Canada Council for the Arts. Artists appear courtesy of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association under the Dance Opera Theatre Agreement. This project is produced with the co-operation of the UBCP/ACTRA.
Le chant de Georges Boivin featuring legendary québécois actor Pierre Collin.
Directed Mario Borges and produced by Les productions Kléos (2012-2015).
Meet the Playwrights & Translator
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ABOUT THE PLAYWRIGHT
Martin Bellemare
(He, Him, His)
A graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada’s writing program, Martin Bellemare was nominated for the 2020 Siminovitch Prize and awarded the 2009 Gratien Gélinas Prize for Le Chant de Georges Boivin. La Liberté was presented at La Rubrique (Jonquière) in 2013 and in Montreal in 2015, and was scheduled to be staged in Ottawa in 2020. Maître Karim la perdrix (2018 Prix SACD de la dramaturgie francophone, awarded by the Société des Auteurs et Compositeurs Dramatiques) will premiere at the Théâtre des Capucins in Luxembourg in 2021. Moule Robert (CNL Scholarship, shortlisted for the 2017 Prix SACD de la dramaturgie francophone and the 2018 Michel Tremblay Prize) was produced simultaneously at La Rubrique and at the POCHE/ GVE in Geneva, then at the Théâtre de Belleville in Paris. Martin is a four-time recipient of the Aide à la création grant from the Centre national du Théâtre/ARTCENA in Paris, and two of his plays are included in the repertoire of the Comédie-Française. Two of his plays for young audiences, Un château sur le dosand Des pieds et des mains, which was first produced at the NAC, have toured in Canada and internationally. In 2019, Extraordinaire et mystérieux and Charlie et le djingpouite were produced, and Cœur minéral premiered at the Francophonies in Limoges. The latter play was scheduled for a Montreal production in 2020.
His work has been produced in Quebec, France, Poland and Switzerland and translated into German, Italian and Lithuanian.
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ABOUT THE TRANSLATOR
Jack Paterson
(He, Him, His)
Jack’s practice has taken him across Canada, the UK and around the world. His work has ranged from contemporary devising, multi-disciplinary, cross-cultural and multi-ligual projects to new works and contemporary approaches to classical theatre. He trained at Circle in the Square (NYC, USA), GITIS (Moscow, RU), SENI (Denpasar, INA) and received his MFA from The University of Essex and East 15 Acting School (London, UK). Recent project include devised creation in Italy (Teatro Trieste 34, Piacenza) and Indonsia (SENI, Denpasar), and a deep dive into German innovation with Flausen+ (theatre wrede+, Oldenburg).
Meet the Workshop
Team
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PAUL BECKETT (HE, HIM, His)*
Paul Beckett has been out of the theatre scene due in a large part to the pandemic. But over this time, Paul has been finding his way with writing. Please keep your eyes peeled and your ears open for he and his partner’s one-act play “The Village Girl and the Frog King”, which will be airing are a radio production on Vancouver Co-operative Radio, CFRO. The play which probably brought Paul his greatest attention was a one-man show solo piece about the late 19th century Parisian artist, Henri de Toulouse Lautrec. That had to be about thirty years ago. Currently, he is working under CAEA contract to workshop the translation of Quebec writer Martin Bellemare’s piece about 4 men, seniors, driving from Montreal to Vancouver in search of a long-lost love.
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JAY BRAZEAU (HE, HIM, His)*
Jay Brazeau has been featured in dozens of films and many more TV series and specials, best known for his role as Sam Fisher in Cold Squad, as Harlan in Stargate SG-1, and for voicing Uncle Quigley in Sabrina: The Animated Series, and as Bobby in Double Jeopardy, as Referee in the Air Bud Films, and his film role in We’re No Angels. A busy stage actor, credits include Duddy and Brighton Beach Memoirs (The Citadel), Moonlight and Magnolias and Other People’s Money (Vancouver Playhouse); Urinetown (Firehall Arts Centre); Hairspray (Mirvish), ); The Producers (Arts Club Theatre); Fiddler on the Roof (The Rubicon Theatre, California) and “Man in chair” in the Drowsy Chaperone (National Arts Centre).
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Allan Morgan (HE, HIM, HIs)*
Allan Morgan has been a professional actor for more than 30 years, with his home in Vancouver. He is currently one of the artists in residence at the Massey theatre in New Westminster. Allan’s acting work has taken him across the country, and he has been the recipient of numerous awards for his work. He has also written two one-person shows: Pride for the Young Gay, the Un-Gay and the Jaded Queen in All of Us, as well as, I Walked the Line.
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JOHN INNES (HE, HIM, HIS)*
John Innes was an early graduate of the National Theatre School (’67). He has performed in every major regional theatre in Canada, including 12 seasons with the Stratford Shakespeare Festival where he received a Tyrone Guthrie Award twice. He has also performed in regional theatres in the United States including three seasons with the Denver Center Theatre Company. In all, he has been a working actor for over 55 years.
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DRAMATURG: JOHANNA NUTTER (ELLE, SHE, HER, hers)
Johanna Nutter (she, euro-settler, multidisciplinary artist) developed her passion for translation through acting: being one of few perfectly bilingual theatre artists, she played leading roles at Centaur (Good People, You Will Remember Me) and La Licorne (Les Événements). The attention of both circles came thanks to the success of her solo my pregnant brother/mon frère est enceinte, which she translated during a residency in Tadoussac, accompanied by Linda Gaboriau. The show toured across Canada and Quebec in both languages, and to the UK and Belgium. Subsequently, she translated the works of Annick Lefebvre (Barbed Wire), Guillaume Corbeil (You’ll Go Looking for Her), and Florence Longpré & Nicolas Michon’s ballet-theatre hybrid CHLORINE, which she also produced and directed at Centaur, with her company creature/creature.
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AGEING IN THE ARTS Co-Ordinator : Dr. Julia Henderson (SHE, HER, hers)
Julia Henderson has a PhD in Theatre Studies from the University of British Columbia; her disserta-tion explored how theatre and performance practices contribute to cultural constructions of aging and old age in contemporary North American theatre. She is now a SSHRC-funded Postdoctoral Fellow with Concordia University where her research focuses on the Imagination Network of Gibsons’ Raising the Curtain project, a community-engaged initiative that involves collaborative creation with people with the lived experience of dementia. Julia’s research on dramaturgies of age offers insights on how dramatic structure, design, staging, performance style, and marketing might influence understandings of ages across the life course. She is Vice Chair of the North American Network in Aging Studies and on the Governing Board of Concordia University’s Ageing + Communication + Technologies Project. Her work on ageing and theatre has been published in Theatre Research in Canada, The Journal of American Drama and Theatre, Theatre Journal, Canadian Theatre Review, Age, Culture, Humanities, RIDE: The Journal of Applied Theatre and Performance, and the Thornton Wilder Journal. Recently, Julia has guest-edited an upcoming issue of Theatre Research in Canada titled “Age and Performance: Expanding Intersectionality”— the first to address the topic of age.
*Artists appear courtesy of Canadian Actors’ Equity Association under the Dance Opera Theatre Agreement. This project is produced with the co-operation of the UBCP/ACTRA.
Learn more about gender affirming language here
About Western Gold Theatre & our Partners
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About Western Gold Theatre
Western Gold Theatre is the premier company in the country focused on sharing and celebrating the talents of senior professional theatre artists (age 55+). Western Gold also mentors emerging younger professional artists as they ‘share the boards’ with us. We are a vibrant creative gathering place for artists and audiences, young and old. www.westerngoldtheatre.org
About Bouche Theatre Collective
Founded in 2012, Bouche has been bringing artists and audiences together separated by language, distance, and culture locally, nationally, and internationally. With a specific focus on the cross pollination between Canadian francophone and anglophone artists and the international community, Bouche reaches out through translation, multi-lingual work, and devised creation. www.bouchewhacked.com
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About The Canadian Play Thing
The Canadian Play Thing is a playwright-centred virtual theatre that shares live readings of new and under-produced Canadian plays online. The goal is to support and celebrate the work of playwrights, and to connect our theatre family across the country. Artists and audiences around the world are welcome. www.plaything.ca
Special Thank you to Our Supporters
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