Tableau D'Hote Theatre Presents HOSANNA, Now thru 3/29

By: Mar. 17, 2015
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Montreal's home for Canadian Theatre, Tableau D'Hôte Theatre, returns for its ninth season with the Montreal English premiere of Michel Tremblay's internationally-renowned classic, HOSANNA, translated into English by John Van Burek and Bill Glassco. This landmark Québecois play about identity in crisis, makes a city comeback 40 years after it first hit the stage in a new production directed by Tableau D'Hôte Artistic Director, Mike Payette and starring Eloi ArchamBaudoin and Davide Chiazzese. Hosanna plays at the Mainline Theatre (3997 Saint-Laurent) from tonight, March 17 to 29, 2015.

"I think I'll go to bed with my make-up on, Cuirette...
I'm afraid of what's underneath..."

Set over the course of one Halloween night, Hosanna, a Montréal transvestite (aka Claude Lemieux), and her partner Cuirette duel in a heated tête­ à tête that forces the Cleopatra impersonator to face her own illusions of identity and the insecurities that envelop her. Funny, raw, biting, and true, this tour-de-force puts a mirror to those who strive to find a place in the world when they have been forced to feel like they need to be someone else.

AN ANTICIPATED HOMECOMING
Just over forty years since its premiere at the Theatre Quat'Sous, Michel Tremblay's groundbreaking play makes its Montreal homecoming, presented for the first time in English by the award-winning Tableau D'Hôte Theatre. After such record-breaking productions as Elizabeth Rex and Humans, Tableau D'Hôte continues its mission of presenting and showcasing premiere Canadian works to Québec audiences, written by some of the country's most prolific auteurs.

CARRYING ON THE LEGACY 40 YEARS LATER
Translated into English by Bill Glassco and John Van Burek in 1974, Hosanna was recently hailed by The Globe and Mail as a "Modern classic," most notably playing at the Stratford Festival in 2011.

This new all-local production, directed by Tableau D'Hôte Artistic Director Mike Payette (Elizabeth Rex, Harlem Duet) celebrates the 40th Anniversary of John Van Burek and the late Bill Glassco's translation, all while paying tribute to the original text and the city in which it is so memorably set:
"THE LEGACY OF HOSANNA LIVES CHIEFLY DUE TO TREMBLAY'S PEN; he has placed a mirror on a shifting political and social climate within Montréal - circa early 1970s and the Quiet Revolution - and has gone deeper into reflecting this within the psychology of his two characters Cuirette and the iconic Hosanna. What's left is an unforgiving investigation of two beautifully-flawed characters who share an unraveling of their identity, forced to question everything they built in order to protect themselves," said director, Mike Payette.

ON THE MARGINS OF SOCIETY
Like in many of his early works (Les Belles-soeurs), Tremblay's profound political allegory about identity and authenticity of self continues to resonate in 2015. Written in 1973 just four years after the decriminalization of homosexuality in Canada and shortly after the infamous Stonewall Riots, Hosanna also remains a visionary work in Queer Theatre:

"We are looking at a story that centers around a protagonist who is at odds with themselves, within what was considered to be the maligned and forbidden world of homosexuality. Tremblay is sensitive to but unafraid of illustrating Hosanna's tragedy because ultimately it is through this that the character is confronted with the hardest reflection of herself she has had to endure. In presenting it today, we can ask how far we have come regarding issues of gender and sexuality within our collective thinking and also remark on how far we have to go," Payette continues.

#HOSANNA514
Tableau D'Hôte assembles a stellar cast and creative team for their ninth season production, their first by a francophone playwright. In the title role of Hosanna is prolific Montreal actor Eloi ArchamBaudoin, who has been seen across Canadian stages in both French and English (Intimate Apparel - Centaur Theatre, The Medea Effect - Talisman Theatre). He is joined by rising theatre actor Davide Chiazzese (The 39 Steps - Theatre Lac Brome, Billy: The Days of Howling - Talisman Theatre) as Hosanna's lover, Cuirette.

The company is delighted to present the production at MainLine Theatre on The Main, appropriately located in the very neighborhood where Tremblay's iconic story sets its action. From the cramped bedroom apartment, the neon lights of Plaza Saint-Hubert to the emblematic Cleopatra dress, the design for this production is created by Lara Kaluza (Set Design), Noémi Poulin (Costumes) and Audrey-Anne Bouchard (Lighting Design). The creative team is rounded off by Rob Denton (Composer), Jennifer Quinn (Assistant Director), Emily Thorne (Technical Director) and Kristen "Birdie" Gregor (Stage Manager).



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