Antonine MAILLET

Antonine Maillet was born in Bouctouche, New Brunswick. After completing doctoral studies at Université Laval in Québec, she embarked on the writing and playwriting career that has brought her national and international fame. She has received thirty honorary degrees and a dozen literary prizes, including the Governor General’s Award (1972), the Prix France-Québec (1975), Le Prix Goncourt (1979) and the Grand Prix de la Ville de Montréal. She is a Companion of the Order of Canada, a member of the Royal Society of Canada and L'Académie des Lettres du Québec. The author of twenty plays, monologues and translations for the stage, Antonine Maillet also wrote short stories and twenty novels such as Le mystérieux voyage de Rien, published by Leméac Éditeur in 2008. The previous novel Pierre Bleu (2006) narrates the history of the Acadian people who had settled and established communities in what are now the Canadian provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, and their fight against the English who invaded their colonies and drove them from their homes.
(Photo : Paul Labelle) – 2009-01-19

 
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Titles in alphabetical order
Evangeline the Second Gapi and Sullivan La Sagouine (English translation)
 
Evangeline the Second More about the publication
  English translation by Luis De Céspedes. Published by Simon & Pierre, Toronto, 1987 out of print; in FORSYTH, Louise Anthology of Contemporary Québec Plays by Women in English Translation, Playwrights Canada Press, 2005 .
  Original title: Évangéline deusse (Leméac Éditeur, 1975).
First production
  CBC Television
Running time
  2 hours
Cast
  1 W, 3 M
Synopsis
  Four people long past their prime; a Breton, a rabbi, a crossing guard, and Evangeline the Acadian, meet in a park and discover they have something in common: they are all living "in exile" in Montreal. It soon becomes obvious that the language of Acadia, like the pine tree Evangeline planted in the heart of the city, refuses to be uprooted. Evangeline embodies the spirit of her people and their will to survive any sort of exile and deportation.
Excerpt
  « EVANGELINE : That's it, yes. That's what Cyprien used to tell me. He took to the sea like a man takes a wife, to try 'n find something out there, something a person looks for all his life 'n only finds once in a blue moon, at daybreak. That's what he'd say. He called it paradise too. (Pause) But after he was gone, I never found that paradise again, never. / THE BRETON : And what if it was still there waiting for us far beyond the open sea? / EVANGELINE : You only take to the sea once...and you gotta be young and strong. / THE BRETON : ...young, surrounded by the horizon 'n with a whole world to conquer... / THE RABBI : ...at an age you can't possibly know how dearly life is going to make you pay for each one of your paradises. »

 
Gapi and Sullivan
  English translation by Luis De Céspedes. Published by Simon and Pierre, Toronto, 1987.
  Original title: Gapi et Sullivan (Leméac Éditeur, 1973).
Running time
  1 hour 30
Cast
  2 M
Synopsis
  Since La Sagouine’s death, her husband, Gapi the Lighthousekeeper, has been living alone in the dunes. He shares his daydreams with the gulls, and his memories with his friend, Sullivan the Sailor. Although both men are happy with their lot, each one envies, ever so slightly, the life of the other.
Excerpt
  « SULLIVAN: No need to step on each other's toes when there's enough room fer everybody. It's a large world, Gapi. A big round globe. Some spots are kind o' rocky, but others are as smooth as moss. And it turns, like a merry-go-round. And once you're on it, you just let yourself go. You perch yourself on top o' the world and you let it carry you to the islands, on water, 'n to brand new lands… / GAPI:...where no man ever set foot before you. / SULLIVAN: So you don't believe me when I tell you I've seen the world. Then what is it I've been doing all these years, according to you? »
Press review
  « A compelling piece of theatre that should have a long life. Lawrence Sabbath, the Montreal Star » 

 
La Sagouine (English translation)
  English translation by Luis De Céspedes. Published by Simon & Pierre, Toronto, 1979.
  Original title: La Sagouine (Leméac Éditeur, 1971-1973; Leméac, collection Poche-Québec, 1986; Grasset, 1976; Biblio québécoise, 1998).
First production
  Saidye Bronfman Centre (Montreal), 1979
Running time
  1 hour 30*
Cast
  1 W playing a choice of 16 monologues, running 15 minutes each*
Synopsis
  La Sagouine was born with the century, her feet in the sea. She is the daughter of a cod fisherman, a sailor’s girl, and later the wife of a smelt fisherman, and at age seventy-two she is still working as a cleaning lady. Putting aside her mop and pail, she shares her memories and personal philosophy in a language as salty as the sea air and as colourful as her Acadian neighbours and ancestors.
Excerpt
  « [excert from The Pews LA SAGOUINE : So anyway, la Sainte, to his day, has her ribbon 'n her medal. You can bet yer life that, come Saturday night, la Sainte is ironin' her ribbon 'n rubbin' her meal with Saint Joseph's oil. Ah! Sure changed her, bein' a Child-o'-Mary, changed her so much […] but that ain't reason 'nough to carry the fat statue o' the Goretti durin' the procession.[…] »
Press review
  "A more piercing portrait of the dehumanization (or is it humanization) of poverty would be hard to imagine. Maillet’s vignettes all have point, punch and mood - almost plays unto themselves." Pat Donnelly, The Gazette, Montreal, November 6, 1987.

 
PLAYS AVAILABLE AT CEAD (Some notes in French may appear below)
  La Fontaine ou La comédie des animaux [1995] (Leméac Éditeur, 1995)
William S [1991] (Leméac Éditeur, 1991)
Margot la Folle [1987] (Leméac Éditeur, 1987)
Garrochés en paradis [1986] (Leméac Éditeur, 1986)
Monologue de Don l'Orignal [1985] (in 20 ans, CEAD / VLB Éditeur, 1985, disponible au CEAD)
Les drôlatiques, horrifiques et épouvantables aventures de Panurge, ami de Pantagruel [1982-1983] (Leméac Éditeur, 1983)
La joyeuse criée [1982]
Le bourgeois gentleman [1978] (Leméac Éditeur, 1978)
La veuve enragée [1977] (Leméac Éditeur, 1977)
Gapi [1976] (Leméac Éditeur, 1976)
Emmanuel à Joseph à Dâvit [1975] (roman, Leméac Éditeur, 1975)
Évangéline deusse [1975] (Leméac Éditeur, 1975)
La contrebandière [1974 et 1980] (Leméac Éditeur, 1981)
Gapi et Sullivan [1973] (Leméac Éditeur, 1973)
La Sagouine [1971-1974] (Leméac Éditeur, 1971-1973; Leméac, collection Poche-Québec, 1986; Grasset, 1976; Biblio québécoise, 1998)
Les Crasseux [1968] (Leméac Éditeur, 1973, épuisé; réédition, 1993)
TRANSLATIONS AND ADAPTATIONS
  La tempête (traduction de A.Maillet) [1996] (Leméac Éditeur, 1997), translation of The Tempest by William Shakespeare
La foire de la St-Barthélemy [1994] (Leméac Éditeur, 1994), translation of Bartholomew Fayre by Ben Jonson
La nuit des rois [1993] (Leméac Éditeur, 1993), translation of Twelfth Night or What you will by William Shakespeare
Valentine [1989-1990], translation of Shirley Valentine by Willy Russel
Richard III [1989] (Leméac Éditeur, 1989), translation of The Tragedy of King Richard the Third by William Shakespeare
Les fantastiques [1988], translation of The Fantastiks by Tom Jones
Une lune d'eau salée [1985], translation of Salt-Water Moon by David French