Wildfire & The Shoe: Two Plays

By David Paquet and Leanna Brodie

• The Shoe was first produced (in English) by the Cherry Artists’ Collective in Ithaca, NY, in September 2019.
• Le soulier was first produced by Théâtre la Seizième in Vancouver, BC, in February 2019.
• Wildfire was first produced (in English) by Upstream Theatre in St. Louis, Missouri, in January 2020.
• Le brasier was first produced by l’Homme allumette in Montréal in September 2016.
• Wildfire’s English Canadian premiere will be at Factory Theatre, Toronto, in May 2022.
• David wrote The Shoe during a writing residency at a psychiatric hospital, and was inspired by those fighting invisible wars.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Playwrights Canada Press
• Release date: Nov 22, 2022
• ISBN: 9780369104045

David Paquet

David Paquet is a graduate in playwriting from the National Theatre School of Canada (2006) and lives in Montreal. His plays Porc-épic; 2h14; Appels entrants illimités; Les grands-mères mortes (co-authored with Karine Sauvé); Le Brasier; Histoires à plumes et à poils (co-authored with Érika Tremblay Roy and Marie-Hélène Larose-Truchon); Le Soulier; Chansons pour le musée (co-authored with Karine Sauvé); Le Poids des fourmis; and Papiers mâchés and Le Voilier (manifeste du fragile), two one-man shows of stand-up poetry he performs himself, have gathered international praise and been produced in more than twelve countries all over North America and Europe. They have cumulatively won the Governor General’s Literary Award, the Michel-Tremblay Award, the Sony-Labou-Tansi Award (twice), the Young Audiences Quebec Critics' Choice Award (twice) and the Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui Audience’s Choice Award.

Book preview

Wildfire & The Shoe

Two Plays by

David Paquet

Translated by

Leanna Brodie

Playwrights Canada Press

Toronto

Copyright

Wildfire & The Shoe © Copyright 2022 by Leanna Brodie

First edition: November 2022

Cover artwork and design by Holly Roach

Author photo © Julie Artacho

Translator photo © Kristine Cofsky

Playwrights Canada Press

202-269 Richmond St. W., Toronto, ON, M5V 1X1

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

Le brasier © 2016 by David Paquet. All rights reserved. First published in French by Leméac Éditeur, Montreal.

Le soulier © 2020 by David Paquet.

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:

Michael Petrasek, Kensington Literary Representation

34 St. Andrew Street, Toronto, ON M5T 1K6

416.848.9648 | [e-mail]

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: Wildfire & The shoe / by David Paquet ; translated by Leanna Brodie.

Other titles: Plays. Selections. English

Names: Paquet, David, 1978- author. | Brodie, Leanna, translator.

Description: Two plays. | Wildfire translated from: Le brasier; The shoe translated

from: Le soulier.

Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20220413118 | Canadiana (ebook) 2022041324X

| ISBN 9780369104038 (softcover) | ISBN 9780369104045 (EPUB)

| ISBN 9780369104052 (PDF)

Classification: LCC PS8631.A666 A2 2022 | DDC C842/.6—dc23

Playwrights Canada Press operates on land which is the ancestral home of the Anishinaabe Nations (Ojibwe / Chippewa, Odawa, Potawatomi, Algonquin, Saulteaux, Nipissing, and Mississauga), the Wendat, and the members of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy (Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora), as well as Metis and Inuit peoples. It always was and always will be Indigenous land.

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

Logo: Canada Council for the Arts.Logo: Government of Canada.Logo: Ontario Creates.Logo: Ontario Arts Council.

Wildfire

Production History

Le brasier was first produced in Montréal, QC, by l’Homme allumette, under the artistic direction of Philippe Cyr. It premiered on September 27, 2016, in the Salle Jean-Claude-Germain at the Centre du Théâtre d’Aujourd’hui, under the artistic direction of Sylvain Bélanger.

Claudie, Carole: Dominique Quesnel

Claudine, Caroline: Kathleen Fortin

Claudette, Clément: Paul Ahmarani

Director: Philippe Cyr

Set Design: Odile Gamache

Lighting Design: Cédric Delorme-Bouchard

Sound Design: Mykalle Bielinski

Assistant Director: Émilie Gauvin

Wildfire was commissioned by Talisman Theatre under the artistic direction of Lyne Paquette. It received a workshop culminating in a public reading at Playwrights’ Workshop Montréal (PWM), co-produced by Talisman and PWM, on November 23, 2018. The reading was directed by Rachel Peake. The readers were Samantha Bitonti, Adam Capriolo, and Amanda Silveira.

Wildfire received its world premiere in St. Louis, MO, with Upstream Theater, under the artistic direction of Philip Boehm, on January 24, 2020, at the Marcelle.

Claudia, Collum: Tom Wethington

Claudine, Caroline: Nancy Bell

Claudette, Carol: Jane Paradise

Director: Philip Boehm

Set Design: Michael Heil

Lighting Design: Steve Carmichael

Costume Design: Laura Hanson

Composer/Sound Design: Anthony Barilla

Projection Design: Traci Lavois Thiebaud

Assistant Director: Dylan Arnold

Wildfire received its Canadian premiere in Toronto, ON, with Factory Theatre, under the artistic direction of Nina Lee Aquino, on June 2, 2022.

Claudette, Caroline: Soo Garay

Claudia, Carol: Zorana Sadiq

Claudine, Collum: Paul Dunn

Director: Soheil Parsa

Set and Lighting Design: Kaitlin Hickey

Costume Design: Jackie Chau

Sound Design and Composer: Thomas Ryder Payne

Head of Wardrobe: Ellie Koffman

Stage Manager: Christina Cicko

Assistant Stage Manager: Anastasiya Popova

Characters

Part One: The Stake

Claudette

Claudia

Claudine

Part Two: The Dragons

Collum

Carol

Part Three: The Fever

Caroline

NB: the play may be performed by three to six actors.

Part 1

The Stake

On stage are three women: Claudette, Claudine, and Claudia.

1

Claudette is leaning over a crib.

Claudette: Ma-ma . . . Ma-ma . . . Come on, that’s it. Open your mouth. Ma-ma . . . I know you want to. Yes you do! You want to talk to your dear ma-ma! Yes you do! Say something to Mama, Mama, your dear mama who loves, loves, loves you!

Claudette starts.

Oh! Yes . . . that’s it . . . open wide . . . no barfing . . . no crying . . . just say the word—

Gabriel: (off stage) Ma-ma . . .

Claudette: Yes! Yes!

Gabriel: (off stage) When . . . I grow up . . . I am go-ing . . . to put you in . . . the fi-re.

2

Claudette: (to the audience) Uh . . . excuse me a sec.

Claudette makes a call.

Claudine?

Claudine: Yes, Claudette?

Claudette: Gabriel wants to put me in the fire.

Claudine: Hey! He’s finally talking! That’s great!

Claudette: Ya think?

Claudine: Oh yeah! That means Claudia was wrong.

Claudette: About what?

Claudine: Uh . . . well . . . She was worried that Gabriel . . . was . . .

Claudette: Was what?

Claudine: Well . . . y’know . . .

Claudette: Say it.

Claudine: Well . . . She was worried Gabriel might be a bit . . .

Claudette: My son is not challenged.

Claudette hangs up and makes another call.

Claudette: Claudia?

Claudia: Yes, Claudette?

Claudette: Is it true you think Gabriel is challenged?

Claudia: Yup.

Claudette: That’s terrible! You’re his godmother!

Claudia: I give him presents anyways.

Claudette: Forget it.

Claudette hangs up.

3

Claudine, with a tray of smouldering cookies.

Claudine: