About the Play:

HARD TO FIND BOOK, only a very limited number of copies are still available.

Finalist for the 2009 Governor General's Literary Award for Drama (Canadian equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize)

Talk is a full-length drama by Michael Nathanson. A funny, complex, and touching look at a friendship torn asunder by time and differing views about the Middle East conflict.

Talk is a provocative, emotionally honest play about how even the strongest of friendships can be tested by political conflict. Gordon wants to know what Josh thinks of his new girlfriend. She makes a casual reference to Palestine. It seems a simple remark, but when Josh, who is Jewish, stumbles over his response, the lifelong friends are stunned to find themselves mired in a passionate and divisive political debate about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Talk examines the power of language and the nature of friendship in a play that promises to evoke strong reactions. Crafted with a finely tuned ear for dialogue and electric pacing, Talk keeps us wondering whose side we're on and why, and leaves us feeling the shock of lost friendship.

Talk premiered in 2007 at the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre. Since then the play had a critically acclaimed production at the Jane Mallett Theatre in Toronto in 2010, winning the CAA Carol Bolt Award, and was mounted by Irving Greenberg Theatre Centre (GCTC) in Ottawa in 2011.

Cast: 1 woman, 2 men

What people say:

"Explosive… provocative… engaging… the dialogue is punchy and all too real." — Winnipeg Free Press

"Riveting… a dynamite play… a balanced, moving, and thought-provoking production…. it illustrates Nathanson's ear for dialogue and playwriting skill." — Jewish Post & News

"[A] provocative production… with humour, complexity, and tenderness." — Jewish Tribune (Toronto)

"Talk is less a play about the intractable situation in the Middle East (although the friends' personal journey mirrors that) and is more a layered, almost elegiac look at the sad death of friendship... This Talk is anything but cheap." — Toronto Star

"An emotional and political tightrope ...Talk [is] something to mull over." — Toronto Sun

About the Playwright:

Michael Nathanson is a Canadian playwright and theatre director, who was a shortlisted nominee for the Governor General's Award for English-language drama at the 2009 Governor General's Awards for his play Talk. He served as artistic director of the Winnipeg Jewish Theatre from 2006 to 2014.