About the Play:

Winner of the 1993 Governor-General's Award for Drama (Canadian equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize)

The Tale of Teeka (English-language version of L'Histoire de l'oie) is a full-length play for young audiences by Michel Marc Bouchard, translated by Linda Gaboriau. A grown man revisits his boyhood self, abused and violently mistreated, in 1950s Québec. Maurice finds solace in his friendship with a goose named Teeka, his ally in adventures where he casts himself as Tarzan and his domestic world as the jungle. The Tale of Teeka, perhaps Canada's most successful work of children's theatre, sheds its eerie light on the inheritance of violence – contagious, irresistible, devastatingly co-mingled with tenderness.

The Tale of Teeka is the story of a little boy and his pet goose, set in rural Québec in the 1950s, but told by that same boy as an adult. One actor plays Maurice as a child and the other Maurice as an adult. The adult recalls an event from his childhood, the childhood of an abused boy who then – as now – cannot escape pain and humiliation. In this probing of the dark, dangerous side of the childhood fairy tale Mother Goose, young Maurice has taken refuge from his own disturbing world into a world full of fantasy. Alone on the family farm one day, he invites his pet goose Teeka into the house. Suddenly, his bedroom and bathroom are transformed into a fantastical Tarzan adventure land. The early return of his parents throws Maurice back into the realities of his own turbulent childhood and he begins to panic. Maurice reacts in a surprising way and commits a desperate and cruel act of violence.

The Tale of Teeka (Linda Gaboria's translation of L'histoire de l'oie) premiered in 1992 at the WorldStage Festival in Toronto and won a Governor-General's Award in 1993. The play has been performed more than 400 times in 12 countries in four languages to wide acclaim and represented Canada at numerous international festivals and garnered rave reviews and several prizes in Dublin, Glasgow, Hong Kong, Limoges, London, Mexico City, Munich, Toronto, and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York.

Cast: 1 male, 1 boy, and 1 puppet

What people say:

"…haunting, touching and at times comical… a poignant, unforgettable, journey." — New York Times

"The story… lifts this simple dialogue to the level of a perfectly disturbing work of art, and one which encompasses the sadness, sweetness and viciousness of life in a way instantly recognisable to anyone who has lived beyond babyhood." — Guardian (Glasgow, Scotland)

"After a full 10 seconds of complete stillness, the opening-night crowd burst into waves of ovation. It is the ultimate compliment to a play so achingly beautiful, restrained and moving that it clings to the heart and mind long after the last words are spoken." — Vancouver Sun

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.