FR Persephone Productions
  • Page d'accueil
  • À Propos
    • Compagnie
    • Histoire
    • Directeur
    • Presse >
      • Lost: A Memoir Press >
        • The Westmount Independent Review for Lost: A Memoir
        • The Gazette Preview for Lost: A Memoir
      • Oroonoko Press >
        • The Gazette Review for Oroonoko
        • The Charlebois Post Review for Oroonoko
        • The Montrealer Interview with Paul Van Dyck for Oroonoko
      • Hamlet Press >
        • First Person Charlebois Post by Christopher for Hamlet
        • CBC Interview with Gabrielle Soskin
        • The McGill Tribune Review for Hamlet
        • The Métropolitain Review for Hamlet
        • The Senior Times Review for Hamlet
      • To Be Press >
        • Mirror Review for To Be
        • Charlebois Post First Person for To Be
      • Far from the Madding Crowd Press >
        • Gazette Review for FFTMC
        • Mirror Review for FFTMC
        • Gazette Preview on Christopher Moore for FFTMC
        • Charlebois Post for FFTMC
      • Mary's Wedding Press >
        • Charlebois Post Interview with Gabrielle Soskin for Mary's Wedding
        • Canadian Jewish News Preview for Mary's Wedding
        • The Mirror Preview for Mary's Wedding
        • Charlebois Post Preview for Mary's Wedding
      • Henry V Press >
        • The Suburban Preview for Henry V
        • The Gazette Review for Henry V
        • Rover Arts Report for Henry V
        • Midnight Poutine Review for Henry V
        • Coolopolis Review for Henry V
        • Rover Arts Review for Henry V
      • Be My Baby Press >
        • Gazette Preview for Be My Baby
        • Gazette Review for Be My Baby
        • The West End Times Preview for Be My Baby
        • The Suburban Review for Be My Baby
      • Cherry Docs Press >
        • The Gazette (Cherry Docs)
        • The Suburban (Cherry Docs)
        • Rover Arts (Cherry Docs)
        • Dee Arr (Cherry Docs)
        • The Canadian Jewish News (Cherry Docs)
        • HOUR (Cherry Docs)
        • The Mirror (Cherry Docs)
        • Stanstead Journal (Cherry Docs)
      • Othello Press >
        • The Gazette (Othello)
        • The Concordian (Othello)
        • The Link (Othello)
        • MicGill Tribune (Othello)
        • The Westmount Independent (Othello)
        • The NDG Monitor (Othello)
      • Unity 1918 Press >
        • The Gazette (Unity 1918)
        • The Mirror (Unity 1918)
        • Invisible Cities Network (Unity 1918)
        • McGill Tribune (Unity 1918)
        • HOUR (Unity 1918)
      • The Love of Shakespeare's Women Press >
        • The Westmount Independent (The Loves of Shakespeare's Women)
        • The Gazette (The Loves of Shakespeare's Women)
      • To The Green Fields Beyond Press >
        • The Gazette (To The Green Fields Beyond)
        • The Mirror (To The Green Fields Beyond)
      • Prodigy Press >
        • The Gazette (Prodigy)
        • La Press (Prodigy)
        • Le Délit (Prodigy)
        • Invisible Cities Network (Prodigy)
        • McGill Tribune (Prodigy)
        • The Surban (Prodigy)
        • The Mirror (Prodigy)
        • McGill Daily (Prodigy)
      • Spring Awakening Press >
        • The Gazette (Spring Awakening)
        • Prince Chameleon Press (Spring Awakening)
        • Délit (Spring Awakening)
        • Mon Theatre (Spring Awakening)
      • A Room of One's Own Press >
        • CBC Radio One (A Room of One's Own)
        • The Gazette (A Room of One's Own)
        • The Westmount Examiner (A Room of One's Own)
        • The Canadian Jewish News (A Room of One's Own)
      • SubUrbia Press >
        • CBC Radio One(SubUrbia)
        • The Gazette (SubUrbia)
        • Montreal Mirror (SubUrbia)
        • HOUR (SubUrbia)
        • The Suburban (SubUrbia)
        • Westmount Times (SubUrbia)
        • The Canadian Jewish News (SubUrbia)
      • Jane Eyre Press >
        • The Canadian Jewish News (Jane Eyre)
        • Orcasound (Jane Eyre)
      • Kindertransport Press >
        • The Gazette (Kindertransport)
        • Montreal Mirror (Kindertransport)
        • The Suburban (Kindertransport)
        • The Chronicle (Kindertransport)
      • Playhouse Creatures Press >
        • Montreal Mirror
        • Westmount Times
      • Anna Karenina Press >
        • Gazette Review
        • Montreal Mirror Review
    • Bulletin
    • Rétroaction
    • Reçus
    • Contact
  • Parrainage
  • Productions Anterieurs
    • oct 2019 Blue Stockings
    • mai, nov 2018: Counting Aloud
    • oct 2018: Abigail/1702
    • Spring Awakening: The Musical
    • Des fraises en janvier
    • Lost: A Memoir
    • Oroonoko
    • Hamlet
    • To Be
    • Far from the Madding Crowd
    • Mary's Wedding
    • Henry V
    • Ten year Anniversary Gala
    • Be My Baby
    • Cherry Docs
    • Othello
    • The Love of Shakespeare's Women (2)
    • Unity 1918
    • The Love of Shakespeare's Women (1)
    • To the Green Fields Beyond
    • Prodigy
    • Spring Awakening
    • A Room of One's Own
    • SubUrbia
    • Jane Eyre
    • West
    • Kindertransport
    • Playhouse Creatures
    • Anna Karenina
  • Blog
  • anciens élèves notables
  • ENGLISH

THEATRE: Easy on the decor
Prodigy makes the most with the least

from the McGill Tribune by Liz Perle, 4/4/06

I felt as if I were sitting in an alleyway. Théâtre Ste-Catherine (264 Ste-Catherine E.), the venue for Persephone Productions' play Prodigy, is a small, narrow room composed of brick walls and lined with cumbersome rows of folding chairs. In fact, it is vaguely reminiscent of a small, dark French café, and I half expected poets with berets and pretentious hand-rolled cigarettes to appear when the show began.

Instead, when the lights rose, the stage was bare save for a grand piano. After the show, artistic director Gabrielle Soskin explained that Prodigy is based on a novella written by acclaimed Canadian writer Nancy Huston. This particular dramatization was originally written in French, and Soskin asked Huston if she would translate it into English specifically for Persephone Productions.

Prodigy is a warm-and conspicuously French-story about mothers, daughters and a compulsive obsession with the piano. It is structured as a series of dramatic monologues alternated back and forth by the all-female cast. The tiny stage, in fact, held only three actresses.

The feisty grandmother, or "Babushka," is played energetically by Karen Cromar from a white wicker chair for the majority of the show. Lara, Babushka's daughter and the central character in the story, is given vivacity and passion by Nathalie Stechysin. In fact, she arguably performed a little too passionately: The subtle metaphors and humour in the script, which presumably would have been central elements of the French version, exploded violently as she belted out her lines. The "prodigy" of the show is the young Maya, Lara's innocent and animated 10-year-old daughter, played by Amanda Sargisson. She stood out as the only actress who captured the delicacy of the text, particularly in her response to her increasingly disturbed mother, while maintaining the character's charming naiveté.

One of the play's most creative elements was the set, which consisted solely of a grand piano, monopolizing the stage and cast. The actresses, consequently, had to manoeuvre themselves around it in scenes ranging from running outdoors in the rain, giving birth in a hospital and being relegated to a psychiatric facility. This design choice reflected the role of the piano in the lives of all three women, and how their identities revolved around their consuming passion for music. Their lives, in fact, were completely devoid of any masculine influence, every male character in the script appropriately represented on stage through computerized voice recordings. This lack of emotional and physical male presence in the women's lives contributed to the overwhelmingly sentimental and artistic female landscape of the story.

Although the plot of Prodigy was a little trite at times, this can easily be attributed to the editorial process associated with translation. The sounds of many words and phrases in the French language simply cannot be reasonably represented in English. In fact, perhaps Prodigy would be better suited for that French café after all.
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.