Part fairy tale, part historical treatise, these two modern epics from one of Canada’s most highly acclaimed playwrights examine the landscape of changing nations and opposing ideals.
Maggie and Pierre
“An often funny and usually intelligent attempt to use the Trudeaus—their relationship with each other and with us—as a touchstone for the shattered ideals, the betrayed hopes and the still-simmering tensions of the past decade.” —Rick Groen, The Globe and Mail
A one-woman show chronicling the relationship that shaped a modern nation, Maggie and Pierre presents an idealized society with Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau as the philosopher king of Canada, Margaret Trudeau as his flower-child wife, and journalist Henry as the disillusioned reporter. Within this triangle of classic archetypes, personal love vies with love of country, and passion challenges reason, steering a nation’s history. Winner of the first Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play, this inspired story still crackles with the energy that took the country by storm at the height of the Trudeaus’ popularity.
The Duchess, aka Wallis Simpson
“A clever, witty piece that swirls together Wallis and Edward, Hitler, Noël Coward, the future Queen Mum, and even Simpson’s personified jewels.” —Jon Kaplan and Glen Sumi, NOW Magazine
The Duchess enters the audacious world of Wallis Simpson—from the filth of Shanghai brothels to the regal splendour of Buckingham Palace—shedding light on the infamous woman for whom King Edward VIII would eventually abdicate his throne. In this adult Alice in Wonderland, Wallis’s personified jewels, her Royal Court chorus, and the royal family themselves dance us through the personal, the political, and the fabulist, giving us a glimpse at the life of the controversial woman who diverted the course of the twentieth century.
Linda Griffiths was an actor, producer, and writer. She was a founding member of 25th Street Theatre in Saskatoon and one of the original cast members in its collective creation Paper Wheat (1978), which toured sold-out houses across Canada. A year later, she performed in another collective creation, Les Maudits Anglais, in Montreal under the direction of future co-writer, Paul Thompson. Her first major success came when she and Thompson collaborated to write Maggie and Pierre, a one-person, three-character play that bases its narrative structure on events in Pierre and Margaret Trudeau’s life together. Maggie and Pierre toured Canada, played the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto, and Off Broadway at the Phoenix Theatre.