Wildfire & The Shoe
Two Plays
Awards
- Winner, Centre du Théâtre d’Aujourd'hui’s People’s Choice Dramatic Author of the Year 2017
- Winner, Jessie Richardson Theatre Awards Outstanding Original Script 2019
- Winner, Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding Production and Outstanding New Play, General Theatre Division 2022
Description
With spark and spunk, these two dark yet absurdly charming comedies offer a kaleidoscopic perspective of those who are destined to go down a lonely path and those who choose to share the weight of others’ journeys.
In Wildfire, three odd triplets, two misfits, and one misunderstood woman are all burning with solitude and desire. Through an exploration of heredity and fate, these seemingly ordinary characters choose to struggle against their isolation in extraordinary yet relatable ways.
In The Shoe, a weary mother, her perplexing son, their shy dentist, and his cocktail-sipping receptionist find themselves drawn together to face problems too daunting to deal with alone. From meltdowns to moments of tenderness, each of them are called on to find reserves of strength and empathy they never knew they had.
Reviews
"Enchanting from start to finish."
- Janine Marley
“Both tragic and hilarious, David Paquet’s ferociously original [Wildfire] is filled with brilliant and surprising insights that communicate the highly sensitive vision of the world of this young Québec playwright.”
- Métro
“Wildfire glows with the heat of discovery, releases a kinetic energy with surprise revelations and pops with dark humor.”
- Lynn Venhaus, PopLifeSTL.com
"Paquet has peppered his script with ironic and sometimes hilarious dialogue where seemingly idiotic pronouncements have the ring of truth, and absurdist situations become real life. That is the brilliance of Wildfire — the play literally sucks the audience into the chaos — and at this point we should mention the sparkling translation by Leanna Brodie which captures Wildfire’s inane yet serious content to perfection."
- Paula Citron
“Fresh, original and off-the-wall . . . does what all good theatre should do: it engages the imagination.”
- Jo Ledingham, Jo Ledingham Theatre Reviews
"An engaging, yet virulent, exploration of parenthood, love, loss, memory and familial distress... minimalist and mesmeric."
- Rob Levy