Tableau D’Hôte Theatre is proud to present the Montreal English Premiere of

HOSANNA

By Michel Tremblay | Translated by John Van Burek and Bill Glassco
Directed by Mike Payette

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.

“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.

Tableau D’Hôte assembles a stellar cast and creative team for their ninth season production, their first by a francophone playwright. 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.

Starring:
Eloi ArchamBaudoin as Hosanna
Davide Chiazzese as Cuirette
Lara Kaluza, Set Design | Audrey-Anne Bouchard, Lighting Design
Noémi Poulin, Costume Design | Rob Denton, Composer

Performances:
Tuesday, March 17 – PREVIEW
Wednesday, March 18 – Opening Night (By Invitation Only)
Wednesday to Saturday – 8:00 P.M.
Sundays – 2:00 P.M.

Talkback Thursdays:
Thursday, March 19 – “Queer Theatre and the World of Tremblay’s Hosanna”
Thursday, March 26 – “Sexuality, Gender and Identity Today”

Tableau D’Hôte Theatre  

MainLine Theatre
3997 Saint-Laurent
www.mainlinetheatre.ca | 514-849-3378

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