Found in translation
Brett Hooton
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Fiery words in Scorched
photo: Cylla von Tiedemann
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The award-winning Scorched comes to Montreal's Centaur
Thirty years of opening nights have done little to quiet Linda Gaboriau's nerves. When Scorched premieres at Centaur Theatre on Oct. 10, the award-winning translator will once again be in her seat, waiting for the lights to dim and the verdict to be delivered. In theatre, the audience's reaction provides an immediate assessment of success or failure - a judgment rendered in enthusiastic applause or the number of seats abandoned during intermission. "No matter how 'experienced' you are," explains Gaboriau, "it's still a scary moment when your work lifts off the page and reaches people."
Produced by Toronto's Tarragon Theatre, Scorched is the English version of Wajdi Mouawad's acclaimed Incendies. Described as an exploration of the question of origin, the show follows a twin brother and sister as they honour a request from their mother's will. The errand takes them to an unnamed country in the Middle East, where they must confront their own ideas of identity.
Long lyrical passages define the play - highly stylized dialogue that presented a unique set of challenges even to Gaboriau, who has some 80 translations under her belt. English audiences, for example, tend to associate this type of poetic language with Shakespeare, not contemporary playwrights.
"Often when you're talking about such huge landscapes, the language doesn't sound like what you and I would say to each other around the kitchen sink," says Gaboriau. "I didn't want to dilute that in [Mouawad's] work, because
I think it's at the heart of how he tries to speak the questions and truths he sees. He sometimes takes lofty language and lots of words to do it, and I want to respect that."But the veteran translator has little cause to worry. Theatregoers have responded to the production with unequivocal enthusiasm. Scorched received two Dora Mavor Moore Awards in 2007 and comes to Montreal as part of a tour that will traverse Canada, the United States and Australia. As the play's translator, Gaboriau takes great pride in her behind-the-scenes contribution to its achievements.
"When you translate a book of short stories," she says, "you don't go into the homes of the readers, so you never know what their enjoyment is, but in theatre you do. You get that community experience at the end of the line and that's very rewarding."
Scorched
At Centaur Theatre (453 St-François-Xavier), until Nov. 2
| mystery of overwhelming suprise end emotion |
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the piece was a total success with overwhelming emotion that catches are intention with a little twist at the end when there looking for there identity and ends by knowing a surprising news of finding there father and brother they didnt know about
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bianca-kate armand
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