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    ISBN: 9780889227590 | Paperback

    96 pages | Pub. Date: 20120415
    5.5 W × 8.5 H × .35 D inches
    Backlist | Drama | Bisac: DRA004010
    Rights: WORLD

    Or find Tom at the Farm in your local bookstore

Lambda Literary Award, Drama: Michel Marc Bouchard, Tom at the Farm, translated by Linda Gaboriau (Winner)


Following the accidental death of his lover, and in the throes of his grief, urban ad executive Tom travels to the country to attend the funeral and to meet his mother-in-law, Agatha, and her son, Francis – neither of whom know Tom even exists. Arriving at the remote rural farm, and immediately drawn into the dysfunction of the family’s relationships, Tom is blindsided by his lost partner’s legacy of untruth. With the mother expecting a chainsmoking girlfriend, and the older brother hellbent on preserving a facade of normalcy, Tom is coerced into joining the duplicity until, at last, he confronts the torment that drove his lover to live in the shadows of deceit.

The lover – the friend, the son, the brother, the nameless dead man – has left behind a fable woven of false truths which, according to his own teenage diaries, were essential to his survival. In this same rural setting, one young man had once destroyed another young man who loved yet another. Like an ancient tragedy, years later, this drama will shape the destiny of Tom.

In a play that unfolds with progressively blurred boundaries between lust and brutality, between truth and elaborate fiction, Bouchard dramatizes how gay men often must learn to lie before they learn how to love. Throughout 2011 and 2012, Tom at the Farm was produced in Quebec and France, as Tom à la ferme, and in Mexico, as Tom en la granja. Award-winning Quebec director Xavier Dolan adapted the play for the screen in 2013, with Caleb Landry Jones in the leading role.

Cast of 2 women and 2 men.

Winner 2014 Lambda Literary Award for LGBT Drama

“Funny, harsh, tender, and terrible, the play engages us in a twisted game that plays itself in a rural setting where innocence and boiling anger collide.” – Montreal Sun

"Extremely well written, a work of great density."
– Catherine Perrin, CBC

By Michel Marc Bouchard

Quebec playwright Michel Marc Bouchard emerged on the professional theatre scene in 1985. Since then he has written twenty-five plays and has been the recipient of numerous awards, including, in June 2012, the prestigious National Order of Quebec for his contribution to Quebec culture, and, in 2005, the Order of Canada. He has also received le Prix Littéraire du Journal de Montréal, Prix du Cercle des critiques de l’Outaouais, the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award, the Dora Mavor Moore Award, and the Chalmers Award for Outstanding New Play. Translated into nine languages, Bouchard’s bold, visionary works have represented Canada at major festivals around the world.

photo: Julie Perreault

Read more about Michel Marc Bouchard



news | 2023-07-19
Linda Gaboriau Receives the Order of Québec

…Award for LGBT Drama with her translation of Tom at the Farm by Michel Marc Bouchard . Linda has made …


news | 2021-07-22
Book Recommendations for Vancouver Pride 2021

…so as to conflate time and sense.” —Ormsby Review Tom at the Farm by Michel Marc Bouchard and translated by Linda … Editor and translator Charles Simard recommends Tom at the Farm and presents it as “a deceivingly benign title … they learn how to love. Throughout 2011 and 2012, Tom at the Farm was produced in Quebec and France, as Tom à la …


news | 2018-06-22
Pride Month Reading!

…(trans. Linda Gaboriau) moving play Tom at the Farm . …


news | 2014-09-19
Michel Marc Bouchard Shortlisted for Siminovitch Prize

…at the Stratford Festival, and his previous play, Tom at the Farm , won last year’s Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ …


news | 2014-08-22
Cover Photograph from Tom at the Farm Wins CA Award

…of Pagé for use on the cover of the Talon play Tom at the Farm by Michel Marc Bouchard (2013). The panel of …


news | 2014-06-03
Tom at the Farm Wins Lambda Literary Award!

…Above: Tom at the Farm up on the big screen at the Lambda Awards (Photo … last night in a gala ceremony in New York City. Tom at the Farm is the 2014 winner in the LGBT Drama category, …


news | 2014-03-06
Tom at the Farm Shortlisted for Lambda Literary Award

…in 24 categories, Michel Marc Bouchard’s play, Tom at the Farm (2013), was one of three nominees in the Drama …


news | 2014-02-05
Tom at the Farm Makes 2014 Over the Rainbow List

…announced for 2014. Michel Marc Bouchard’s play, Tom at the Farm (2013), has made the list as the only book in the …


news | 2013-09-09
Tom à la ferme wins Best Film Prize at Venice Film Festival

…Film Festival. The film is an adaptation of Tom at the Farm , a play by Michel Marc Bouchard, who worked with …


news | 2013-09-03
In Review: Film Adaptation of Tom at the Farm

…28 to September 7, 2013). Based on the play Tom at the Farm by Michel-Marc Bouchard, Dolan’s film tells the … and pop songs at the funeral. Thankfully, _Tom at the Farm_’s slide into absurdity never flops into … a director of original and entertaining cinema. Tom at the Farm is confidently delivered, its shots composed with …