She said, he said

>> A conversation with PWM’s Emma Tibaldo and
infinitheatre’s Guy Sprung about collaborations,
Québécois theatre and translating That Woman

by AMY BARRATT

Starting next week, infinitheatre is remounting Daniel Danis’s That Woman, which Talisman Theatre originally performed at the Geordie Theatre last fall. Part of the reason behind the remount is that Emma Tibaldo—now incoming artistic director at Playwrights’ Workshop Montreal (PWM) and director of the remount—had applied for a grant back then, and it finally came through. For infinitheatre’s Guy Sprung, who acted in the play along with Sarah Stanley and Marcelo Arroyo, signing on to co-produce the show was a way for infinitheatre to produce a three-play “season.” This time, the show goes on at the Bain St-Michel. I chatted with Sprung and Tibaldo before rehearsal one morning last week. (Please note, in this conversation, infinitheatre’s name is abbreviated to “infinite.”)

Mirror: I wrote a piece a few weeks ago in which I complained of a dearth of plays by women in infinite’s line-up. [Read that piece at www.montrealmirror.com/2007/071207/theatre1.html.] In a very good-natured e-mail response, Guy mentioned that Playwrights’ Workshop had never sent him a play by a woman to consider. In fact, he said, they had never sent him any plays. I’m curious, Emma, what relationship you think PWM should have with companies like infinite?

Guy Sprung: I would certainly hope that if something came through your desk that was perfect for infinite, that you would send it over.

Emma Tibaldo: Yes, but also, if infinite has a project where you’ve got this playwright and this idea, that you would bring it to us. That’s what we’re there for.

GS: I’m happy to hear you say that.

ET: Usually, when plays come through Playwrights’, they’re either already attached to a theatre company, or they’re not ready to send out. But of course, our work is all about small companies and playwrights getting together.

M: In terms of That Woman, how do you respond to people who say we don’t need to do English translations of Québécois plays here, because people should go see them in the original French?

ET: I grew up in Montreal speaking English, French and Italian. To me, this idea that French plays shouldn’t be done in English doesn’t make sense. The level of writing in Québécois plays is so amazing. It touches me. I know it touches other non-francophones. Even if you’re a student who comes here for four years: you may not be able to go to a French show and follow perfectly, but you can still want to experience the rich culture here. Anglophones and allophones are part of the Québécois landscape, and we should be bastions of that culture. If anybody’s going to do Québécois plays in English, it should be us, because we know how to do them best!

The way Danis has written the play, he’s given each character phrasing that’s unique to that character. And Linda Gaboriau’s translation catches that. Because we all speak French, we’re able to look at the French text and appreciate that.

M: What kind of audience did you get for the first run?

GS: It was really mixed. English, French, lots of people in their twenties, but there were older people too.

ET: There was a lot of demand. There were people who didn’t get it or didn’t like it, but a lot of people were haunted by it—people who love that kind of story, the tragedy, the poetry of it. For us, it’s great to have this chance to look at it again and go deeper.