About the Play:

August: An Afternoon in the Country (English-language version of Août, un repas à la campagne) is a full-length drama by Jean Marc Dalpé, translated by Maureen Labonté. Four generations living under the same roof abandon pleasantries when an afternoon in the middle of a heatwave comes to an explosive end. August: An Afternoon in the Country is a taut family drama that chronicles the end of a way of life.

August: An Afternoon in the Country is a gripping, poignant and often hilarious tale of four generations of a Québécois family. A hot August afternoon. The third day of a stifling late summer heat wave. An old family farm where four generations still live under the same roof. "The urbanites" are coming: Monique has driven out from the city with her new fiancé André, and a special dinner is being prepared to celebrate the two fifty-year-olds upcoming wedding. But nothing is what it seems, and despite lazy, rambling conversations on the veranda and the comings and goings of a large household, cracks begin to appear and tensions mount. Everything is falling apart between Gabriel and Louise. Underhanded plans are being prepared, leading to a startling, explosive end to the afternoon.

August: An Afternoon in the Country premiered in 2012 at the venerable Centaur Theatre, the oldest English-language theatre in Montréal.

Cast: 5 female, 3 male

What people say:

"…turns the heat way up and stirs that roiling cauldron of caustic bitterness only the most interesting families can muster. …Like Chekhov's unfortunates, Dalpé's characters owe their dysfunctions to the cultural shock of rapidly changing times." — The Montreal Gazette

"Moving… disturbing. Dalpé's play is full of rhythm and finesse. Nothing escapes the mounting tensions, not even the humour that is present throughout." — Radio-Canada

"Brilliantly constructed… a bold, audacious play which eschews plot in favour of a solid, dramatic situation which carries us through to the final catastrophe. ...stays with you long after you've left the theatre." — La Presse

About the Playwright:

Jean Marc Dalpé studied theatre at the University of Ottawa and graduated from the Conservatoire d'art dramatique de Québec. In 1979, he co-founded the Théâtre de la Vieille 17 where he worked as a writer and actor for two years. He then moved to Sudbury, where he was Artist-in-Residence at the Théâtre du Nouvel-Ontario until 1988. He is a three-time recipient of the Governor General's Literary Award (Canadian equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize.