About the Play:

The Orphan Muses has become a favourite of acting teachers for Female/Female scene-study showcases.

The Orphan Muses (English-language version of Les muses orphelines) is a full-length comedy by Michel Marc Bouchard, translated by Linda Gaboriau. A bunch of grown-up siblings return to the family home where they were once abandoned by their mum. The Orphan Muses is a devilishly funny play about four wacky siblings.

The Orphan Muses is set in 1965 in an isolated village near Lac Saint-Jean, Québec. Three sisters and a brother are reunited for the first time in many years. Their mother, who abandoned them when their father failed to come home from World War II, has written to announce her return. While they wait for their mother's return, they probe the secrets of their past in which the older siblings tried to rewrite family history to protect the youngest sister. Yet it is she who will force them to face reality at last. A truly unique comedy that is guaranteed to show you how normal your family really is.

Les muses orphelines premiered in 1988 at Théâtre d'Aujourd'hui in Montréal and became a major success, touring to Brussels, returning for an extended run in Montréal, and subsequently performed in Paris. The Orphan Muses made its English-language premiere in 1995 at Western Canada Theatre Company in Kamloops, BC, with subsequent productions at in 1996 The Firehall Arts Centre in Vancouver, Buddies in Bad Times, and in 1997 at the venerable Centaur Theatre, the oldest English-language theatre in Montréal. The UK premiere was in 2004 at Barons Court Theatre in London.

Cast: 3 female, 1 male

What people say:

"The Tanguay family in The Orphan Muses is anything but conventional. But the emotional truths that Quebec playwright Michel Marc Bouchard tackles in his bold, highly theatrical and wonderfully extreme dramatic adventure are instantly recognizable and richly resonant." — The Vancouver Sun

"…the toast of the fall season." — The Globe and Mail

"A fairly dysfunctional family gather together and begin to learn the truth about each other and the parents who abandoned them years before. From the opening, skeletons are rattling around in closets and predictably jump out, often in rather spectacular fashion... This is a thoughtful play about the falling apart of the family unit and as such, it could quite easily have been set anywhere in the Western world." — The Stage (UK)

"The Orphan Muses blessed me with some of the most transporting moments I've ever experienced in the theatre." — Georgia Straight

"...strikes a perfect balance between tragedy and comedy and the results are flat out fabulous." — The Kitsilano News

"...an unforgettable theatrical experience." — This Week

About the Playwright:

Michel Marc Bouchard is one of Québec's most prominent playwrights. Three of his plays have also been adapted for cinema. He has received numerous grants and awards including "Le Prix du Journal de Montréal", "Le Prix des critiques de l'Outaouais", the Dora Mavor Moore Award, the Chalmers Award for Outstanding New Play, and nine Jessie Richardson Awards.