War Cantata / Child Object Front Cover

Paperback / softback
ISBN: 9780889229068
Pages: 144
Pub. Date: October 14 2014
Dimensions: 8.5" x 5.5" x 0.375"
Rights: Available: WORLD
Categories
Drama / DRA013000

  • DRAMA / Canadian

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War Cantata / Child Object

By Larry Tremblay
Translated by Keith Turnbull & Chantal Bilodeau

War Cantata translated by Keith Turnbull How far will humanity go in its quest for power? Why do we desire to eliminate each other through war? War Cantata looks at ways the impulse for violence is transmitted from one generation to the next; for example, when a father teaches his son hatred to transform him into a soldier impervious to pity. Without focusing on a particular battle or soldier, this harsh, intense, choral text builds the rhythmic power of words to expose war’s spiral toward hatred.

In 2012, SACD (Société des auteurs et compositeurs dramatiques), in partnership with France Culture, awarded War Cantata the Prix SADC for best world play written in French, and CEAD (Centre des auteurs dramatiques) awarded it the Prix Michel-Tremblay for the best play written in Quebec in 2012.

Cast of 2 men and a chorus.

Child Object translated by Chantal Bilodeau With child as a blank page, a man sets about constructing his ideal companion manipulating personality, gender, and body. The child becomes the ultimate consumer good.

Cast of 1 woman and 2 men.

"With War Cantata, Larry Tremblay delivers a great theatrical text that talks about the mechanics of hatred: hard, visceral, and uncompromising ..."– Yves Rousseau, LeQuatrième.com

"With a vocabulary that does not fear ugliness and vulgarity, Larry Tremblay creates a state of emergency without wallowing in pathos. His writing digs into pain while providing relevant reflection. In its happy fusion between emotion and thought, he traces the contours between commitment and poetry ... [between] the weight of savagery and the hardness of a crippled civilization." – Olivier Dumas, Montheatre.qc.ca

"This is a powerful work, mesmerizing, painful." – Karyne Lefebvre, CBC/Radio-Canada

"It is rough, it's brutal, it comes as a string of gunshots ..."
– Annie-Soleil Proteau, CBC/Radio-Canada