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"Recently, I took a group of my theatre students to see Rock, Paper, Jackknife.…This play presents us a difficult, disturbing and beautifully poetic text, as Perreault attempts to create a new hybrid language for her characters to traverse the labyrinth of their dysfunction. In the discussing the play in the subsequent week in class, the students grappled with how the author is asking us to question the very nature of language, and--even though the play was set in a nebulous time and place--she is making a comment on a volatile political and cultural topic that affects each of my students' daily lives. I was once again struck how vital a medium theatre is to our society." --Andrew Cuk, faculty member of the Department of Theatre and Music at John Abbott College. "Over 32 days following the arrival of the stowaways, everyone descends deeper and deeper into Arctic hell, within a beautifully designed, corrugated metal shack that doubles as a classroom and a living space. ...the performaces are admirably ernest and energetic. Manning and Davis, in particular, are often riveting." --Pat Donnely, The Gazette, Montreal. "'Rock, Paper, Jackknife...' ...will have you twisting in your seat as playwright Marilyn Perreault explores the perversion of the human mind and the extremes it is capable of ...the play has a profound message about solitude and the human mind. Originally written in French, the play is masterfully translated by Nadine Desrochers and well directed by Emma Tibaldo." --Enrico Quilico, The Concordian, Montreal. "This is a play which goes to a very dark place in human experience and it resonates with the worst and most savage results there. It is an edgy and very postmodern work which challenges the audience to follow the drama down to its horrible conclusion. It was Lord of the Flies on ice with alcohol and glue sniffing thrown into the mix." --Anna Fuerstenberg, Rover Arts, Montreal. "The world is full of people who spend their time quietly doing amazing things. ...Emma Tibaldo is one of these subtle superheroes. ...Leaping building-sized themes is what theatre does best, but 'Rock, Paper, Jackknife...' goes even further. The script stretches language itself by twisting grammar and using words in unconventional ways. The result is a more visceral and innocent form of expression. ...All in a day's work for Tibaldo and her Talisman sidekicks." --Brett Hooton, The Hour, Montreal. |
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"Talisman Theatre won the Anglophone Theatre Prix de la critique award of the 2008-2009 season for its production of Michel-Marc Bouchard's Down Dangerous Passes Road, directed by Emma Tibaldo at Théâtre La Chapelle. It prevailed over Wajdi Mouawad's Scorched and Bryden MacDonald's With Baited Breath, both seen at Centaur Theatre." --Pat Donnely, The Gazette, Montreal. "Dans la catégorie Théâtre anglophone, le Prix de la critique est remis à DOWN DANGEROUS PASSES ROAD de Michel Marc Bouchard (traduction Linda Gaboriau), dans une mise en scène de Emma Tibaldo, une production du Talisman Theatre. D'une appréciable sobriété, ce spectacle s'appuyait avant tout sur le jeu de l'acteur. Graham Cuthbertson, Marcelo Arroyo et Patrick Costello ont livré des interprétations sensibles et nuancées. Dans une scénographie aussi dépouillée qu'évocatrice, le moindre de leurs déplacements était chargé de sens. En se mesurant dans la langue de Shakespeare aux auteurs francophones contemporains du Québec, et qui plus est avec doigté, le Talisman Theatre pourrait bien contribuer à réunir les deux solitudes." --Christian Saint-Pierre, président AQCT. "As automobile accident plays go, Michel Marc Bouchard's 'Down Dangerous Passes Road' rises above, into the ethereal. And the Talisman Theatre production of this poetic work, translated into English by Linda Gaboriau... does an admirable job of bridging the cultural gap that often hinders French-language Quebec plays from making a smooth transition into English [...] With this kind of play, less is more when it comes to staging. Lyne Paquette's set, which consists of giant sheets of parchment, with words scrawled in longhand, is just right. These 'pages' serve as screens for cinematic images that enhance the intense dramatic confrontations. In some ways this modest effort outshines the original French production... [...] Director Emma Tibaldo has delivered a meaningful introduction to a lesser work by the playwright..." --Pat Donnely, The Gazette, Montreal. "Watching the clash of two very different theatre aesthetics--both the highs and the lows--makes for a fascinating 90 minutes. [...] Director Emma Tibaldo is most at ease with the naturalist elements offered by the text. The actors are riveted to each other, devouring their linesand spitting them back out with tremendous energy. [...] It won't be giving away the ending to report that 'Down Dangerous Passes Road' is a cri de coeur for the sacred superiority of art, because at some level, that's what most contemporary Quebecois plays are about. Talisman's attack is boldand imaginative. Watching the dueling aesthetics, one has the feeling the effort of translation is in equal measure hopeless and essential, and therefore, quite a good reason for doing theatre" --Marianne Ackerman, Rover Arts, Montreal. |
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"Directed by Emma Tibaldo, the production unites a group of talented veterans under the umbrella of Talisman Theatre, a cooperative formed to put on Quebec plays in Montreal not yet seen in English. Good news indeed, and it comes not a moment too soon to help fill a gap in the pure-laine anglo playgoing experience" --Mat Radz, The Gazette, Montreal. "[D]ozens of new French plays come out each year, and then there's all the stuff from past years that never got picked up for English language production. That's where 'That Woman' and Talisman productions come in. As indie theatre companies go, this one is fairly high-powered. It was started by hot young director Emma Tibaldo and fellow NTS graduate, designer Lyne Paquette" --Amy Barratt, Mirror, Montreal. |
For comments or information :
talisman(at)talisman-theatre dot com
Page last updated on
10-03-2010