The Law of Gravity

By Olivier Sylvestre

Dom has had a rough go of things so far. At fourteen, he has the hardened look of someone who’s had to fight for everything.

Fred has just moved to Not-The-City, a new place to try to disappear. But he didn’t expect to actually make friends. He just hopes he’s accepted for how he looks.

When Dom and Fred meet on a hill overlooking a bridge that connects Not-The-City to The City, a place where anyone can be anything they want, the two find a refuge in one another and make a pact: they’ll cross the bridge at the end of the school year. They’ll be free. What could happen by then? Who will they be? And will the bridge even let them cross?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Playwrights Canada Press
• Release date: May 11, 2021
• ISBN: 9780369101716

Olivier Sylvestre

Author and translator Olivier Sylvestre holds a bachelor’s degree in criminology and a diploma in playwriting. He has published the novels noms fictifs and le désert, and two plays, La loi de la gravité and Guide d’éducation sexuelle pour le nouveau millénaire. La loi de la gravité has been translated into German and won the ARTCENA Creation Assistance Award (France) and the Coburger Autorenforum Award (Germany). Olivier also works as a writing instructor and dramaturg. He lives in Montréal.

Book preview

Two figures, silhouetted in black, stand on top of a hill covered in debris. They look off into the distance, which is filled with a bright yellow sun. Swimming up to the sun are gigantic red jellyfish, luscious green fronds swaying around and between the jellyfish.

The Law of Gravity

Olivier Sylvestre

Translated by Bobby Theodore

Playwrights Canada Press

Toronto

The Law of Gravity © Copyright 2021 by Bobby Theodore, a translation of La loi de la gravité by Olivier Sylvestre © Copyright 2019 by Hamac (Les Éditions Somme toute), all rights reserved, 300-4609 rue d’Iberville, Montréal, Québec H2H 2L9, www.hamac.qc.ca

First edition: April 2021

Jacket art by Raz Latif

Author photo © Patrick Palmer

Translator photo © Keith Barker

Playwrights Canada Press

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416.703.0013 | [e-mail] | www.playwrightscanada.com

No part of this book may be reproduced, downloaded, or used in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, except for excerpts in a review or by a licence from Access Copyright, www.accesscopyright.ca.

For professional or amateur production rights, please contact the publisher.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: The law of gravity / Olivier Sylvestre ; translated by Bobby Theodore.

Other titles: La loi de la gravité. English

Names: Sylvestre, Olivier, author. | Theodore, Bobby, translator.

Description: A play. | Translation of: La loi de la gravité.

Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20210161388 | Canadiana (ebook) 20210161469

| ISBN 9780369101693 (softcover) | ISBN 9780369101709 (PDF) | ISBN 9780369101716 (HTML)

| ISBN 9780369101723 (Kindle)

Classification: LCC PS8637.Y447 L83413 2021 | DDC C842/.6—dc23

Playwrights Canada Press operates on Mississaugas of the Credit, Wendat, Anishinaabe, Métis, and Haudenosaunee land. It always was and always will be Indigenous land.

We acknowledge the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council (OAC), Ontario Creates, and the Government of Canada for our publishing activities.

A stylized, illustrated blue tree sits to the left of the words 'Canada Council for the Arts / Counseil des arts du Canada.''The word Canada is written out with a Canadian flag—a red maple leaf flanked by two vertical red stripes—situated above the final A.An orange O is bisected by a green and purple C, situated to the left of the words 'Ontario Creates | Ontario Créatif.''A large red A is bisected by an angled blue C, with a green O balanced between the two letters on the left. To the right of the OAC logo are the words 'Ontario Arts Council / Counseil des arts de l'Ontario' over a red line with the words 'An Ontario Government Agency / un organisme du gouvernement de l'Ontario' below the line.

For my friend Max D, the spark that brought Dom and Fred to life.

Contents

Copyright

Dedication

Production History

Characters

Epigraph

The Law of Gravity

Prologue

1. The Wrong Side

2. This Guy from Class

3. Bitches

4. The Mirror

5. Disguises

6. The Person

7. Lobotomy

8. Love

9. The Actor

10. Clothes

11. Birds

12. The Bridge

Acknowledgements

About the Author

About the Translator

Landmarks

Copyright

Dedication

Table of Contents

Production History

Characters

Epigraph

Prologue

1. The Wrong Side

2. This Guy from Class

3. Bitches

4. The Mirror

5. Disguises

6. The Person

7. Lobotomy

8. Love

9. The Actor

10. Clothes

11. Birds

12. The Bridge

Acknowledgements

About the Author

About the Translator

Page List

v

vi

vii

1