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August, An Afternoon in the Country [2007] (Playwrights Canada Press, 2007)
Création Alberta Theatre Projects, Calgary, 15 février 2008 Traducteur(s) Maureen Labonté (Auteur féminin) Nombre de personnages 8 Personnage(s), 5 Femme(s), 3 Homme(s), 8 Acteur(s) |  |
Résumé On a summer afternoon, a meal is being prepared in the old farm house occupied by four generations of a family. “The urbanites” are coming: Monique and André, two fifty-year-olds who just got engaged. On this scorching day, everything is falling apart between Gabriel and Louise. Underhanded plans are being prepared. The silence and denial will be even more meaningful.
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- Décor: THE SETTING
A large, run-down farmhouse.
The front verandah is listing slightly forward. On it, there’s an old dog house, a pair of rubber boots, two old metal garden chairs, a low table and a two-seater swing.
Everything is a bit rusty.
The front entrance leads to the main part of the house. There are in fact two doors. - a screen door which opens out and a solid, massive, wooden inner door which will remain open for most of the play.
The window by the swing is the living-room window.
To the side of the house, stage right, there’s an old apple tree which we don’t see but which provides shade. There are a few rotten apples on the ground.
In front, there’s a small stretch of lawn which gives onto a dirt driveway where the cars are parked. This means that the characters make entrances and exits through the audience.
A path on the stage-left side of the house leads to the barn, the garage and the other farm outbuildings.
TIME
Late on a Saturday afternoon. Around 4:30pm.
Mid-August.
The third day of a heat wave.
The Prologue takes place the evening before.
- Caractéristiques des personnages: THE CHARACTERS
LOUISE “Lou-Lou”. The wife. 38 years old. Summer dress. Blue streaks in her hair.
GABRIEL “Gab” or “Gaby”. The husband. 42 years old. Jeans. A white
t-shirt. Work boots. Baseball cap.
JOSÉE Their daughter. 19 years old. Sporty mid-calf designer pants. A camisole. A baseball cap. Her navel is pierced.
SIMON Louise’s father. 57 years old. Still suffering from the after-effects of a major stroke he had three years earlier as well as from recent radiation treatments for throat cancer. He drinks constantly from a water bottle.
JEANNE Louise’s mother. 60 years old. At the beginning of the play, she wears an apron over her “Sunday dress”. Her hair is dyed; the roots are grey.
PAULETTE Jeanne’s mother. 86 years old. Men’s glasses. A hearing aid. She walks slowly. Uses a cane she doesn’t really need.
MONIQUE Simon’s sister. 58 years old. Some men would say she’s “well-preserved” ; most women that she “works hard at it”. A little too much make-up. A little too much jewelery.
ANDRÉ MATHIEU Her fiancé. 57 years old. Hair dyed black. The golfer-look.
Short-sleeved Lacoste shirt, well-pressed trousers, comfortable
leather shoes.
Extrait « PAULETTE : Mr. Mathieu, I'm an ornery old woman. I was real nice all my life, tried to please everyone, but six months ago something went crack in my head, all of sudden, and since that crack, I'm ornery. So I've gotta tell you that if I call you Mr. Mathieu instead of André, it's not because you're from the city or because your trousers are so nicely pressed or because you smell of after shave that cost you an arm and a leg, it's to annoy you. I'm ornery, ay. »
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