On the Irish Coast, a vacationing couple stumbles upon the body of a drowned woman named Mary during a walk along the beach. This grisly discovery acts as a catalyst to unearth unspoken words in Pierre and Simone's long-standing marriage. They spin a story of Mary's life - both imagined and factual - and as her story comes alive, Mary's presence insinuates itself into their lives, illuminating their own tumultuous relationship. Part detective story, part ghost story, part dissection of fidelity and intimacy, this is a haunting ode to love by de la Chenelière, freely inspired by the novel Une vie pour deux by Marie Cardinal.
Premiered in French by Montreal's Espace Go in 2012 as Une vie pour deux (La chair et autres fragments de l'amour), Le Devoir praised it as "a beautiful, poetic piece. The writing is in equal parts sophisticated, sensitive, and ironic," while the Journal de Montréal hailed it as "magnificently well-written, triggering deeply-felt emotions. A superb pieceŠ as troubling as it is moving."
Director Richard Rose has assembled an outstanding team for this lyrical exploration of relationships - to one's self and to another. After receiving the 2012 Toronto Theatre Critics' Best Actress Award for Tarragon's The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs, and appearing in last season's The Amorous Adventures of Anatol as all seven women, Nicole Underhay returns to Tarragon to portray Mary. This past summer, Underhay starred in the Shaw Festival's Major Barbara and Arcadia. Likely best known for her 49 episodes in the much beloved CBC TV drama Street Legal as Laura Crosby, Maria del Mar now makes her professional stage debut as well as her Tarragon debut as Simone. Most recently she produced and co-starred in the feature film Looking Is The Original Sin directed by famed Canadian Gail Harvey, and has starred in such other tv series as Terminal City (ACTRA Award) and Blue Murder (Gemini nomination). Blair Williams as Pierre also makes his Tarragon debut after recently appearing in PIG for Buddies in Bad Times Theatre and in Blithe Spirit for Montreal's Segal Centre. He directed Peace In Our Time (2013) and The Millionairess (2012) at the Shaw Festival, where he has been a member of the company for 19 seasons.Videos