Robert GURIK

Robert Gurik has written over twenty plays, some of which have been translated into several languages including English, Italian, Greek, Dutch, Czech and Portuguese. He is a founding member of Montreal’s Centre des auteurs dramatiques and has been president of l'Association québécoise des auteurs dramatiques. Several of his plays have been produced in English across Canada and two of his works, Le Pendu (The Hanged Man) and Les louis d’or, won Canada’s Governor General’s Literary Award in 1967 and 1969 respectively. He is also the author of novels, short stories, several television series, and feature films. – 2009-01-19

 
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When available, click on the image to learn more about the publication , the cast , the set or other 's activities around the play.
Titles in alphabetical order
Api 2967 (English version) Hamlet, Prince of Quebec Hearts Queen's Gambit The Champion The Hanged Man The Trial of Jean-Baptiste M.
 
The Champion
  English translation by Alan Van Meer. Published by Playwrights Canada, 1982.
  Original title: Le champion (Leméac Éditeur, 1977; Auteurs dramatiques en ligne inc. – ADEL inc. 2004).
First production
  Théâtre l'Arc-en-ciel, Republica of Bénin (Africa), 1978
Running time
  1 hour 40
Cast
  34 characters (3W, 31 M) can be played by 1 W and 11 M
1 song
Synopsis
  This is the story of the life of the boxer, Cassius Clay – aka, Mohammed Ali. The play covers the same period as the film When We Were Kings.
Excerpt
  « CHRIS : Ah! You're still here, Cassius! / ALI : Muhammad Ali. / CHRIS : Yes, if you prefer. I was afraid I'd miss you. / ALI : I'm packing and going back to Louisville. / CHRIS : It's all arranged. McDonald agrees, everybody spoke to him and he accepted. You don't need to renounce your religion, Cassius. / ALI : Muhammad Ali. / CHRIS : Yes...Muhammad Ali. The fight will go on, the result depends on you. You know the odds? / ALI : No / CHRIS : Forty-three to four in favour of Liston. »

 
The Trial of Jean-Baptiste M. More about the publication
  English translation by Alan Van Meer. Published by Talonbooks, Vancouver, 1974.
  Original title: Le procès de Jean-Baptiste M. (Leméac Éditeur, 1972; Auteurs dramatiques en ligne inc. – ADEL inc. 2004).
First production
  Vancouver Players, 1974
Running time
  2 hours 20
Cast
  3 W, 10 M
Synopsis
  Obeying his personal principles, a man, Mr. Everyman, decides he’s had enough and kills his three bosses. Is this a "courageous" effort to escape the feeling of impotence bred by the system? Is it a political issue, a social problem, or a psychological drama? Who is really to blame?
Excerpt
  « JEAN-BAPTISTE : I am sick of being treated like a robot by the company, by my bosses Marshall and Lalonde. I get more and more discouraged, and even think about quitting my job. I decide to stay because I have hope that any work can become more human, and because I want to make myself a career with Dutron. Nevertheless I get more and more depressed. I feel as if I'm no longer alive, and that my movements are automatic. Sunday nights are the worst; I think about the week ahead… I'm no use to anybody or anything, and yet I could do so much… so much… »
Press review
  "Outrageously funny at times, yet totally familiar and bitterly realistic, the play charts the progress of a true everyman from childhood to young adulthood and the realization of his ambitions: a job. The potency of the script derives from the fact that it is based on a case history of a fired employee of a large Eastern corporation who, failing to be re-hired, shot and killed three of his ex-bosses." The Sun, Vancouver, 1974.

 
Hearts
  English translation by Marc F. Gélinas.
  Original title: À coeur ouvert (Leméac Éditeur, 1969; Auteurs dramatiques en ligne inc. – ADEL inc. 2004).
Running time
  1 hour 45
Cast
  4 W, 17 M
Synopsis
  The board of directors of a medical clinic unanimously approves a motion "authorizing the heart bank to remove the hearts of citizens of reprehensible social standing." A metaphorical look at how the social and political circumstances of modern society affect the individual.
Excerpt
  « HENRY : [...] We recommend the use of perfected tool for the actual levying operation so that we may work with the best possible product. (He pulls out a knife which can be bent at center so that it will form a right angle.) We thereforce propose the use of this new "clean weapon" which reduces the risk of scratches to the operator while minimizing useless suffering of the victim. Let me demonstrate the weapon. »

 
Hamlet, Prince of Quebec
  English translation by Marc F. Gélinas. Published by Playwrights Co-op, 1973; Talonbooks, Vancouver, 1974.
  Original title: Hamlet prince du Québec (Leméac Éditeur, 1977; Auteurs dramatiques en ligne inc. – ADEL inc. 2004).
First production
  London Little Theatre (Ontario), 1968
Running time
  2 hours
Cast
  15 M
3 songs
Masks
Synopsis
  In this political satire loosely based on Shakespeare’s Hamlet, the ghost is General de Gaulle, Horatio is René Lévesque, the Queen is the Church, The King, English Canada and Laertes, Trudeau, etc. The original play is set in 1969, but could and should be updated, with, for example, Lucien Bouchard as Horatio, René Lévesque as the Ghost, etc...
Excerpt
  « KING/THE ENGLISH : 'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet, to give these mourning duties to your father. Yes, you are bound in filial obligation for some term, to do obsequious sorrow, but to persevere in obstinate condolement is a crime against nature, an offence to death and an insult to reason. One must face the facts...that which was is no more. As for your intent in revisitting France, this and other dark Gaboneese thoughts are most retrograde to our desire. The state of our affairs with this country is uncertain and strained. And we beseech you bend to remain here, in the cheer and comfort of our eye. »
Press review
  "This play ranks as one of the most imaginative and forward-thinking works the London Little Theatre has attempted." London Free Press, 1968.

 
Queen's Gambit
  English translation by Renée Noiseux.
  Original title: Échec à la reine (Auteurs dramatiques en ligne inc. – ADEL inc. 2004) Copie disponible pour le prêt au CEAD.
Running time
  1 hour 20
Cast
  3 W, 4 M
videos, screens, projections
Synopsis
  This is a theatrical essay.Two students, who are Independentists, plan to kill the Queen during one of her visits. The action takes place, the day before the attempt, in a dilapitated warehouse where they have taken refuge and where they try to work out all the possible obstacles and the possible effects this action may have on Québec politics.
Excerpt
  « LOUIS 2 : They are always right because we are wrong! / HELEN 2 : If he thinks that after tonight I will not kill the Queen anymore, he is wrong. Oh God! It's good to belong to somebody, even if it's only for a few minutes. »

 
The Hanged Man More about the publication
  English translation by Laurence Bérard and Philip W. London. Published by New Press, Toronto, 1972.
  Original title: Le pendu (Leméac Éditeur, 1970; aussi disponible dans une édition scolaire annotée par Lucie Desaulniers, Leméac Éditeur, 1974; Auteurs dramatiques en ligne inc. – ADEL inc. 2004).
First production
  Domino Theatre, Kingston, Ontario, 1973
Running time
  1 hour
Cast
  12 characters played by 10 M  More about the cast   More about the the suggested set
10 songs sung by one of the children characters or by the Singer seated at one end of the stage.
Synopsis
  This play is a parable about human greed and corruption. In a seedy mining town, two derelicts, father and son, one posing as a cripple, the other as a blind man, plot a new scheme. Acting on the theory that a hangman’s rope is a talisman, they announce that the son will hang himself and proceed to sell off, in advance, sections of the long, murderous rope. It sells like hell and hell comes closer with every sale.
Excerpt
  « FATHER : Everybody knows the story. They strung up some big shots here and that's when they found this mine. When they were digging the graves. / JOEL : I know all that. What's it got to do with the rope? / FATHER : What's it got to do with the rope! Don't you know a hanging rope brings good luck and happiness? Even a Chinaman knows that! You get a piece of the rope and you gotta get lucky. / JOEL  : Yeah, sure, that's what people say. / FATHER : So that makes us rich! We'll sell the hanging rope! »

 
Api 2967 (English version)
  English translation by Marc F. Gélinas. Published by Playwrights Co-op, 1973; Talonbooks, Vancouver, 1974.
  Original title: Api 2967 (suivi de La palissade, Leméac Éditeur, 1971; Auteurs dramatiques en ligne inc. – ADEL inc. 2004).
First production
  Citadel Theatre (Edmonton), 1969
Running time
  1 hour
Cast
  1 W, 1 M
Synopsis
  At an undetermined point in time, the inhabitants of an unidentified planet live for science alone. They are all known simply by their numbers. A professor undertakes research on an apple which he names Api, and on a series of documents handed down from the ancient civilisation "Earth." With the help of his female assistant, E3253, he attempts to decipher this lost civilisation.
Excerpt
  « PROFESSOR : We have dug up some manuscripts of extreme importance. These manuscripts were entitled "Pornographic". / E : Porno..graphic? / PROFESSOR : Yes. From these manuscripts we can see that the human grouping is clearly divided between two classes: men and women. These men and these women are continously joining by certain organs, always in different positions, and derive from this joining a...some...feelings. / E : This must have called for a large output of energy? / PROFESSOR : Right! »
Press review
  "`Buck Rogers in the 25th century’ is about 500 years short of the mark for this provocative science-fiction charade which projects us 1000 years hence, into a time of new incarnation for the human race — perhaps a new Garden of Eden with its Adam and Eve reborn." Edmonton Journal, 1969.

 
PLAYS AVAILABLE AT CEAD (Some notes in French may appear below)
  La griffe [1999] (Auteurs dramatiques en ligne inc. – ADEL inc. 2004) Copie disponible pour le prêt au CEAD
On s'est trompé de boulevard [1992] (Auteurs dramatiques en ligne inc. – ADEL inc. 2004) Copie disponible pour le prêt au CEAD
La dernière cène [1990]
Vingt ans [1985] (in 20 ans, CEAD / VLB Éditeur, 1985, disponible au CEAD)
Le champion [1977] (Leméac Éditeur, 1977; Auteurs dramatiques en ligne inc. – ADEL inc. 2004)
La baie des Jacques [1976] (Leméac Éditeur, 1978)
Lénine [1975] (Leméac Éditeur, 1975; Auteurs dramatiques en ligne inc. – ADEL inc. 2004)
Sept courtes pièces [1973-1975] (Auteurs dramatiques en ligne inc. – ADEL inc. 2004)
Le procès de Jean-Baptiste M. [1972] (Leméac Éditeur, 1972; Auteurs dramatiques en ligne inc. – ADEL inc. 2004)
Le tabernacle à trois étages [1972] (Leméac Éditeur, 1972; Auteurs dramatiques en ligne inc. – ADEL inc. 2004)
Allô...police [1970 et 1974] (Leméac Éditeur, 1974; Auteurs dramatiques en ligne inc. – ADEL inc. 2004), in collaboration with Jean P. Morin
D'un séant à l'autre [1970] (in Les tas de sièges, avec J'écoute et Face à face, Leméac Éditeur, 1971; Auteurs dramatiques en ligne inc. – ADEL inc. 2004)
Face à face [1970] (in Les tas de sièges, avec D'un séant à l'autre et J'écoute, Leméac Éditeur, 1971; Auteurs dramatiques en ligne inc. – ADEL inc. 2004)
J'écoute [1970] (in Les tas de sièges, avec D'un séant à l'autre et Face à face, Leméac Éditeur, 1971; Auteurs dramatiques en ligne inc. – ADEL inc. 2004)
Les fourberies de Scapin [YA] [1970] (Auteurs dramatiques en ligne inc. – ADEL inc. 2004) Copie disponible pour le prêt au CEAD
«4» ou Vivre [1969] (Auteurs dramatiques en ligne inc. – ADEL inc. 2004) Copie disponible pour le prêt au CEAD
À cœur ouvert [1969] (Leméac Éditeur, 1969; Auteurs dramatiques en ligne inc. – ADEL inc. 2004)
Échec à la reine [1968] (Auteurs dramatiques en ligne inc. – ADEL inc. 2004) Copie disponible pour le prêt au CEAD
Hamlet, prince du Québec [1968] (Leméac Éditeur, 1977; Auteurs dramatiques en ligne inc. – ADEL inc. 2004)
La palissade [1968] (précédé de Api 2967, Leméac Éditeur, 1971; Auteurs dramatiques en ligne inc. – ADEL inc. 2004)
Le pendu [1967] (Leméac Éditeur, 1970; aussi disponible dans une édition scolaire annotée par Lucie Desaulniers, Leméac Éditeur, 1974; Auteurs dramatiques en ligne inc. – ADEL inc. 2004)
Les Louis d'or [1966] («Théâtre vivant», n° 1, CEAD et Holt, Rinehart et Winston Ltée, 1966, épuisé; Auteurs dramatiques en ligne inc. – ADEL inc. 2004)
Api 2967 [1965] (suivi de La palissade, Leméac Éditeur, 1971; Auteurs dramatiques en ligne inc. – ADEL inc. 2004)