Ismene & Nassara - by Carole Fréchette (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Who wants peace? Really?

Iconic Québécoise playwright Carole Fréchette brings to life two searing tales of women caught between preserving peace and provoking disruption.

In Ismene, the overlooked sister of the heroic Antigone delivers a lecture recounting her family's tragedy and the doubts that still haunt her twenty-five centuries later. The tone of her presentation changes as she delves into the past and relives the most disturbing moments in her version of the story.

In Nassara, Quebecker Marie-Odile is attending a symposium on urban agriculture in Burkina Faso. As her turn to speak approaches, she struggles to gather her thoughts, grappling with long-buried pain, until the conference is interrupted by a man with a rifle.

Together, these bold and unsettling plays probe the complexities of courage and truth and explore the moral questions of our era defined by polarization, absolutism, and erasure.

Review Quotes

Praise for Nassara:

"A fiery, breathless text, polished like a diamond. Every word is in its right place and flows like lava that nothing and no one can stop."

--Stéphanie Morin, La Presse

"Like a Greek tragedy, Nassara is an admirable back-and-forth between the intimate and the universal. The play demonstrates that the two are inseparable. It carries a message of kindness and mutual understanding that is neither outdated nor simplistic."

--Mario Cloutier, En toutes lettres

Praise for Ismene:

"A gem with a discreet brilliance. It envelops the audience in subtle emotions that make fragile theatre an immortal art form."

--Marie-Valentin Chaudon, La Croix

"It is simple and profound, masterful without being showy. Superb."

--Le journal d'Armelle Héliot

About the Author

Carole Fréchette was born in Montréal and is a graduate of the National Theatre School. She is the author of seventeen plays, which have been translated into twenty languages and staged all over the world. Fréchette was awarded the prestigious Siminovitch Prize in Theatre in 2002, and has received the Governor General's Literary Award for French Language Drama twice, for Le Quatre Morts de Marie in 1995 and for Small Talk in 2014. Her plays are published in French by Leméac/Actes-Sud Papiers. In 2017, les Éditions Nota bene published a book devoted to her playwriting, edited by Gilbert David: Carole Fréchette, dramaturge. Un théâtre sur le qui-vive.

Linda Gaboriau is an award-winning literary translator and dramaturg based in Montreal. She has translated over 150 plays and novels from the French. Her translations of works by Quebec's most prominent playwrights have been published and produced across Canada and abroad. She has directed numerous translation residencies and from 2002-2007 she was the founding director of the Banff International Literary Translation Centre. Her drama translations have garnered many awards, including three Governor General's Literary Awards for Translation. In 2015, she was named a member of the Order of Canada, and in 2023, an Officer of l'Ordre national du Québec