About the Play:

Winner of the 2018 Governor General's Literary Award for Drama (Canadian equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize)

Botticelli in the Fire & Sunday in Sodom contains two one-act plays by Jordan Tannahill. Botticelli in the Fire centres on the early Renaissance painter and his young apprentice Leonardo da Vinci; and Sunday in Sodom is inspired by the story of Lot's wife. In both, a famous figure from history or myth has reappeared to set the story straight – and relive a loss suffered due to religious and political fanaticism. The plays may be presented separately or as a double bill to create a full evening of entertainment.

The double bill opens with Botticelli in the Fire, an inspired take on the life of painter Sandro Botticelli, renowned for his weekend-long orgies as much as he is for his great masterpieces of the early Renaissance. But things get complicated when Lorenzo de' Medici commissions Botticelli to paint a portrait of his wife, Clarice. What emerges is the famed The Birth of Venus and a love triangle involving Botticelli's young assistant Leonardo da Vinci that risks setting their world alight. For while Florence of 1497 is a liberal city, civil unrest is stoked by the charismatic friar Girolamo Savonarola who begins calling for sodomites to be burned at the pyre.

Sunday in Sodom gives a voice to this previously unnamed Biblical figure, referred to simply as "Lot's wife." Set in the present day and told from the perspective of Lot's wife Edith, she recounts how her husband welcomed two American soldiers into their house, the fury this sparked in their village, and the chain of events that led to the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. But most importantly, Edith sets the record straight as to why, after being told not to, she looked back upon the destruction of her hometown and turned into a pillar of salt.

Botticelli in the Fire and Sunday in Sodom premiered in 2016 as a double bill at Canadian Stage in Toronto. Since then the plays have been presented across Canada and internationally.

Cast: 2 women, 4 men

What people say:

"The best new Canadian play of the year." — National Post

"Jordan Tannahill's bracingly fresh double bill takes fragments of stories from the historical record and turns them into plays for today, damning more than a few torpedoes as he goes." — Toronto Star

"Tannahill's work is witty, sexy, and audacious, with a strong emotional core." — Torontoist

About the Playwright:

Jordan Tannahill is a Canadian playwright and filmmaker. His work has been presented in theatres, festivals, and galleries across Canada and internationally, translated into multiple languages, and honoured with various prizes, including two Governor General's Literary Awards (Canadian equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize).