About the Play:

Andy's Gone is a full-length drama by Marie-Claude Verdier, translated by Alexis Diamond. What stories do we tell ourselves to keep our walls up and our privilege intact? What is the cost of revolution? The City is in a state of emergency and a princess threatens to expose the truth behind her cousin's death and the storm outside her kingdom's walls in this modern re-imagining of Antigone for young adults.

Andy's Gone is a contemporary retelling of the story of Antigone for teenage audiences. Denial of what rages outside of a city's perimeter comes to a head when a young princess named Alison tries to expose the truth of her beloved cousin Henry's death. By night, Henry went as Andy, as together he and Alison scaled the walls of their kingdom to help the migrants who are kept out of sight. Burdened by the weight of the inequality that his future reign represented, he killed himself. But his mother, Queen Regina, hails his death as a valiant knight and will do anything she can to keep Alison silent. The two women become locked in a poetic battle of power and prejudice, until a push turning into a shove might mean it's too late to find peace.

Andy's Gone was commisioned and first presented in French in 2016 by Acesso e Sempre at Collège Lucie Aubrac in Béziers, France, and toured for four years and over 100 performances.

Cast: 2 female, 1 male (offstage)

What people say:

"Astute, relevant, at once brutal and sophisticated." — Radio France Vaucluse

"Very loosely inspired by the classical tragedy, the script written by a young Quebec playwright – Marie-Claude Verdier – uses the current geopolitical context as the basis for the conflict between state policy and personal values." — Le bruit du off

About the Playwright:

Marie-Claude Verdier is a Franco-Ontarian writer who has also been involved with many prestigious Canadian theatrical institutions. Upon returning from her Master's in Dramaturgy at the University of Glasgow, she was hired by the National Arts Centre in Ottawa as coordinator for the youth section. She later moved to Montreal to become head of Centre des auteurs dramatiques' (CEAD) documentation centre. She now works at the National Theatre School of Canada's library.

Alexis Diamond is a Montreal-based theatre artist and translator. Her award-winning plays, operas and translations for all ages have been presented across Canada and internationally.