A SEX ED GUIDE FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM
By Olivier Sylvestre | Translated by Bobby Theodore
Running Time:
1 hr 15 min
Characters:
2 M | 1 F
This translation was made possible by a grant from Canada Council for the Arts.
A SEX ED GUIDE FOR THE NEW MILLENNIUM
By Olivier Sylvestre
Translated by Bobby Theodore
Translated from GUIDE D’ÉDUCATION SEXUELLE POUR LE NOUVEAU MILLÉNAIRE (Quebec, Canada)
“…daring a frank, raw, funny and touching text, and especially in tune with the times, on a subject that has so far been little seen on stage: the discovery of sexuality, with all the clumsiness, questions and impulses that this implies, for the better, but above all for laughter.”
Silvia Galipeau, The Press
“Without disillusionment or cynicism, the play takes a benevolent look at the teenage experience, its torments, hopes and fears.”
François Jardon-Gomez, Le Devoir
August 1999. The end of the world is near, and so is the end of high school. The shadow of the 2000 bug hangs over the desires of Oli and So. Also, no one taught them why or how to make love. And then appears Ben, this magnetic being superbly entered into adulthood. Identities are changing, prohibitions are being raised, and sex is a target to be reached, before the charge towards the new millennium takes everything in its path.
This translation was made possible by a grant from Canada Council for the Arts.
GUIDE D’ÉDUCATION SEXUELLE POUR
LE NOUVEAU MILLÉNAIRE (2020)
produced by Theatre Denise-Pelletier.
About the playwright
Olivier Sylvestre
Olivier Sylvestre (he, him, his) is a Canadian writer from Quebec. He is most noted for his first theatrical play La beauté du monde, which won the Prix Gratien-Gélinas and was a shortlisted for the Governor General’s Award for French-language drama at the 2015 Governor General’s Awards, and his short story collection Noms fictifs, which was a shortlisted finalist for the Governor General’s Award for French-language fiction at the 2018 Governor General’s Awards.
Sylvestre holds a bachelor’s degree in criminology, and a diploma in playwriting from the National Theatre School of Canada. He was translated into English by Leanna Brodie. His monologue Le désert was premiered in January 2018 at Théâtre Prospero in a production by Le Dôme – creations théâtrales, a company Sylvestre co-leads. His play La loi de la gravité, Éditions Passages(s), has won numerous awards in Europe and was translated into English by Bobby Theodore. He has translated several plays by Canadian playwrights, Jesse Stong’s You Can Do Whatever You Want and Waawaate Fobister’s Agokwe.
His play La loi de la gravité was translated into German Das Gesetz der Schwerkraft by Sonja Finck (Gatineau) and performed at the Theaterfestival Primeur in Saarbrücken in 2016.
About the translator
Bobby Theodore
Bobby Theodore (he, him, his) is a screenwriter, playwright, dramaturg, and translator. Bobby has worked on several TV series, including Murdoch Mysteries, Flashpoint, and Knuckleheads (an adaptation of the iconic Québecois cartoon, Têtes à claques). After graduating from the National Theatre School of Canada’s playwriting section in 1998, he was a Governor General Award finalist in 2000 for his translation of 15 Seconds by François Archambault. Since then, Bobby has gone on to translate over 25 plays from French to English. His most recent translations include The Just by Albert Camus (Talonbooks, 2017), Paradise in Flames by François Archambault, and Public Enemy by Olivier Choinière. For the stage, Bobby co-created 300 Tapes (with Ame Henderson), a performance that premiered at the Theatre Centre in Toronto and at Alberta Theatre Projects (ATP) in Calgary. In 2014, his translation of François Archambault’s You Will Remember Me premiered at ATP, won a Betty Mitchell Award for Outstanding New Play, and was produced across Canada and in the USA. Currently, Bobby is writing a play about his grandmother called The Only Jew in Town.
Translation Showcase
A Glimpse into New Translation: A Sex Ed Guide for the New Millennium
By Olivier Sylvestre | Translated by Bobby Theodore
FREE EVENT | Sunday May 30, 2021
12 pm Pacific | 3 pm Eastern | 8 pm GMT
www.plaything.ca