Goat in ’23 & ’24, Nobel Prize

Thanks to your support, One Little Goat has great news from the year behind and for the one ahead. Read and see all about it below, and if you can, please support One Little Goat's programming with a tax-deductible donation. As a registered charity, we depend on individual donations to realize productions, and we want to thank you for helping us make them happen. See you in 2024! In the meantime, wishing happy holidays, a healthy new year, and peace, —Adam Seelig, Artistic Director

OUR BIGGEST PROJECT TO DATE…

…filming all 17 chapters of James Joyce’s monumental final novel, Finnegans Wake, in a first-of-its-kind filmed audio book, is well under way and gaining momentum.

Chapter 1 is complete and screened to enthusiastic audiences at the Toronto Irish Film Festival at TIFF Lightbox, Bloomsday Film Festival Dublin & European Union Film Festival

l-r: Joyce Centre Director Darina Gallagher, Harte, Lord Mayor of Dublin Caroline Conroy

“Finnegans Wake” at EU Film Festival

Richard Harte & Adam Seelig, Toronto Irish Film Festival at TIFF Lightbox

Praising the Dublin premiere, noted culture critic for The Irish Voice, Cahir O’Doherty, writes: “Actor Richard Harte has found a way to crack the private code and maintain the original voltage… of one of the most funny and challenging novels of the 20th century, Joyce’s Finnegans Wake.”

RTE Irish National Television featured the film, and numerous media warmly welcomed our debut, including the Irish Echo, WBAI New York (Malachy McCourt), CIUT Toronto (donna g), Pa Sheehan, Irish Radio Canada and more.

Thanks to a travel grant from the Ontario Arts Council, Harte and Director Adam Seelig attended the film’s Irish premiere at the James Joyce Centre in Dublin.

Following the success of Chapter 1, the Emigrant Support Programme from the Government of Ireland has renewed and increased their funding for our forthcoming films of Chapters 2-4.

Shot with a live audience at Noonan’s Irish Pub in Toronto on 26 June, Chapter 2 is in the final stages of editing. Chapter 3 has wrapped, with editing to begin in January; and Chapter 4 is slated to shoot in early 2024.

Save the date(ish) for March 2024, when One Little Goat returns to the Toronto Irish Film Festival to screen “Finnegans Wake, Chapter 2.” We will share details with you soon.


CLAUDE GAUVREAU'S VAMPIRE ONLINE

Asymptote, the leading site for world literature in translation, recently published scenes from Ray Ellenwood’s translation of Claude Gauvreau’s radical 1949 libretto The Vampire and the Nymphomaniac (commissioned and published by One Little Goat in 2023). Visit Asymptote to read the excerpts for free as well as Adam Seelig’s introduction and the original French as read by Thierry Bissonnette.


And the 2023 Nobel goes to…

l-r: Michael Blake, Dwight McFee & Stacie Steadman, "Someone is Going to Come"

…Norwegian poet and playwright Jon Fosse! Those who have been following and attending One Little Goat’s productions will remember our 2009 English Canadian Premiere of Fosse’s best known play, Someone is Going to Come, in a new English translation by Harry Lane and Adam Seelig (hailed in the Globe & Mail as “21st-century Beckett”).

For those interested in the script of the translation, please email us: onelittlegoattc@gmail.com. For Fosse’s Nobel Lecture, click here.


PLEASE SUPPORT ONE LITTLE GOAT THEATRE COMPANY

As an official charity, One Little Goat, North America’s only company dedicated to poetic theatre, depends on individual donations to make productions possible. Your financial support is tax-deductible and greatly appreciated! Our office is volunteer-run, so 100% of your donation goes directly to programming.

How to donate:

  1. Online through Canada Helps

  2. E-transfer to onelittlegoattc@gmail.com

  3. Cheque to One Little Goat Theatre Company, 422 Brunswick Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M5R 2Z4, CANADA

THANK YOU!

FINNEGANS WAKE at EU Film Fest (Nov 26)

Join us Sunday 26 November at 8:30pm when the Toronto European Union Film Festival will screen excerpts from One Little Goat’s debut film of James Joyce's Finnegans Wake Chapter 1 at Alliance Française (24 Spadina Road, Bloor/Spadina). The excerpts will be followed by a new, feature-length film from Ireland, Double Blind.

Appropriately for the EU Festival, our Wake excerpts will feature the “Museyroom” episode, a wild recounting of Napoleon’s defeat at the Battle of Waterloo by European coalition forces.

Praise for One Little Goat's Finnegans Wake: “Actor Richard Harte has found a way to crack the private code and maintain the original voltage… of one of the most funny and challenging novels of the 20th century, Joyce’s Finnegans Wake.” —Cahir O'Doherty, The Irish Voice


FRANÇOISE SULLIVAN AT 100!

One Little Goat congratulates a favourite artist (and audience-member), Françoise Sullivan, the last living member of Montreal’s radical Automatistes (Claude Gauvreau, Jean-Paul Riopelle et al), on her new exhibit — “I let rhythms flow” — at Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal in celebration of her 100th birthday.

Brenda & Ray Ellenwood, Françoise Sullivan, Adam Seelig on the set of The Charge of the Expormidable Moose (One Little Goat 2013)

When the Museum initially approached Françoise years ago about a retrospective for her centennial, she wondered why they were looking back when she had so much new work ahead of her! And indeed, the remarkable exhibit features mostly canvases from 2023.

Félicitations, Françoise, and thank you for your art: old, new and still-to-come.


One Little Goat is an artist-driven, registered charitable organization. For more and to donate, visit http://onelittlegoat.org/contact.

WAKE in Dublin (June 16) & Trailer

WAKE in Dublin (June 16) & Trailer

Finnegans Wake Chapter 1 Trailer

On Friday 16 June, the Bloomsday Film Festival will screen One Little Goat’s debut film, Finnegans Wake Chapter 1 at the James Joyce Centre in Dublin at 11:15 am & 2:45 pm as part of the 69th annual Bloomsday Festival's celebration of James Joyce. Admission is free — join us!

(The Bloomsday Festival will also screen excerpts of the film for its “Joycean Shorts” program at 4pm on Thursday 15 June at the James Joyce Centre. Tickets go on sale next week.)

FINNEGANS WAKE IN THE NEWS

One Little Goat gratefully acknowledges the Ontario Arts Council (OAC) for supporting the company's travel to Ireland.


FILMING NEXT: FINNEGANS WAKE CHAPTER 2

On 26 June, One Little Goat will shoot Finnegans Wake, Chapter 2 before a live audience at Noonan’s Irish Pub in Toronto. Rehearsals are underway!


GAUVREAU READING IN TORONTO (JUNE 4)

Translator Ray Ellenwood and Adam Seelig will read from One Little Goat’s recent publication of Claude Gauvreau’s The Vampire and the Nymphomaniac at Free Times Cafe in Toronto on Sunday 4 June at 7:30pm for the Surrealism edition of “Here is Elsewhere” featuring readings and performances by Montreal author Peter Dubé, Recordists Sherri L Higgins & William Davison, and poet Beatriz Hausner.


ARE YOU IN TORONTO ON BLOOMSDAY (JUNE 16)?

Join our friends at Anna Livia Productions for the 38th annual Toronto Bloomsday celebrating Joyce's great novel Ulysses!

Stage Manager OPPORTUNITY

Position: Stage Manager
Date: Monday 26 June 2023
Time: 9am-5pm
Location: Noonan’s, 141 Danforth Ave, Toronto
Fee: $300 (+ hst if applicable) 

One Little Goat Theatre Company is seeking a STAGE MANAGER for our one-day filmed live reading of James Joyce’s FINNEGANS WAKE, Chapter 2, on Mon 26 June at Noonan’s pub in Toronto.

The STAGE MANAGER will be responsible for “PROOF READING” the actor’s performance of the text, noting any errors the actor may make. Top-notch proof-reading skills are essential.

For more information on the project, please visit: https://www.onelittlegoat.org/finneganswake

Interested applicants, please email your résumé to One Little Goat at: chadgadya [at] gmail.com

Join us! WAKE at TIFF for TIRFF (March 25)

FINNEGANS WAKE EXCERPTS!

Great news: at 8pm on Saturday, March 25, the Toronto Irish Film Festival (TIRFF) will screen the trailer for One Little Goat’s debut film, Finnegans Wake Chapter 1 for the festival’s “Celebration of Joyce” at TIFF Lightbox.

Join us and be among the first to see-and-hear Richard Harte’s magnificent, filmed reading of James Joyce’s last novel. Tickets go on sale soon. For details, visit TIRFF and One Little Goat’s new Finnegans Wake website.

Richard Harte with the author (photo: Tim Leyes)

Joyce, Gauvreau & One Little Goat in 2023

Thanks to your support and the determination of our artists in the face pandemic challenges, One Little Goat has great news to share from 2022 and for the year ahead. Read all about it (and enjoy photos) below, and if you can, please support One Little Goat's programming with a tax-deductible donation — as a registered charity, we depend on individual donations to realize productions, and we want to thank you for helping us make them happen. See you in 2023! In the meantime, wishing happy holidays and a healthy new year, —Adam Seelig, Artistic Director


ONE LITTLE GOAT'S DEBUT MOVIE
FINNEGANS WAKE BY JAMES JOYCE

Stein (Picasso 1906)

Joyce is good. He is a good writer. People like him because he is incomprehensible and anybody can understand him.

Ogre reads Joyce (Baalbuddy 2021)

Grudging though her admiration may have been, Gertrude Stein was right: Finnegans Wake (1939) is that very incomprehensibility that anyone can understand because Joyce’s notoriously gnarly dream-novel is oddly, absurdly, obsessively funny. It is, in short, a comedy — a comedy that, in Joyce’s words: “is all so simple. If anyone doesn’t understand a passage, all [they] need do is read it aloud.

Joyce (Irish currency)

On August 31, 2022, One Little Goat Artistic Director Adam Seelig and theatre artist Andrew Moodie worked with video producer MXL Media, sound recordist William Bembridge and production designer Jackie Chau to capture Dublin-born actor Richard Harte reading Chapter 1 of the Wake for an intimate, live (masked) audience in Toronto. Harte’s performance is awesome, and we can’t wait to share it with you.

90 minutes long, Finnegans Wake, Chapter 1 is now in postproduction. In addition to Harte’s magnificent reading, the film includes Irish-Canadian singer Kevin Kennedy’s superb rendition of the “Finnegan’s Wake” folk song that inspired Joyce’s title, plus several montages echoing themes in the novel.

Poster for Mary Ellen Bute's 1996 film adaptation

One Little Goat’s production marks the first ever audio-video book of this extraordinary novel, boasting numerous aspects that will make it a golden resource for current and future audiences of Joyce’s incomparable work. Our Wake:
—> will be freely available online from inception.
—> is filmed in front of a live audience, enhancing the novel’s comedy — there’s a reason standup comedians aren’t recorded in studio.
—> by virtue of being a video (in addition to audio) recording, allows audiences to see (in addition to hear) the reader’s tongue-twisting virtuosity.
—> includes subtitles and page numbers, enabling readers to ‘flip’ to their desired spot in the novel (page and line numbers are standardized in all editions of Finnegans Wake).

Above all, our Finnegans Wake is a serious pleasure. Thank you to the Embassy of Ireland in Canada for supporting production of Chapter 1. With 16 more chapters to shoot, our work has only begun!


THE VAMPIRE AND THE NYMPHOMANIAC

Book Cover: The Vampire and the Nymphomaniac / Le vampire et la nymphomane

Years in the making, Ray Ellenwood’s “expormidable” translation of Le vampire et la nymphomane (1949) by revolutionary Montreal poet-playwright Claude Gauvreau (1925-71) is finally out in a bilingual, French-English, tête-bêche (flip book) edition published by One Little Goat with Nouvelles Éditions de Feu-Antonin. Augmented by photos and essays, the book is a beauty.

>> Order the book!

Read the review by David Olds in WholeNote Magazine p.48 Dec 2022-Jan 2023 issue

Listen to interviews by CIUT Radio’s donna g with:
* Adam Seelig (Nov 13) — online podcast, Spotify
* Ray Ellenwood (Nov 20) — online podcast, Spotify

Toronto launch: Ray Ellenwood, author Beatriz Hausner, Steve McCaffery, editors Adam Seelig & Thierry Bissonnette

Launched this November to full (masked) houses in Toronto and Montreal, Gauvreau’s wild libretto is now reaching English audiences for the first time. world, Steve McCaffery (of legendary Four Horsemen fame), for joining us from NY for the Toronto launch to perform his tour de force rendition of Gauvreau’s final suite of sound poems (Jappements à la lune) and thanks to the Bureau du Québec à Toronto and Canada Council for the Arts for their support.

Françoise Sullivan (right) with Ray Ellenwood & Adam Seelig (Montreal)

For our Montreal launch we are grateful to renowned artists Janine Carreau (sister-in-law of Claude) and Françoise Sullivan (Order of Canada, signatory to the Refus global manifesto of 1948) and opera singer Pauline Vaillancourt for joining us, and to director Lorraine Pintal (of Canada’s leading French-language theatre Théâtre du Nouveau Monde) for lauding the publication. And thanks to you for engaging with and supporting this rare, exceptional work.

Janine Carreau (2nd from right) with Thierry Bissonnette, Adam Seelig & Ray Ellenwood (Montreal)

Coincidentally…! In November, Canada Post issued a stamp of actor Monique Mercure, who played The Vampire’s Mother in the 1996 production of The Vampire and the Nymphomaniac.


PLEASE SUPPORT ONE LITTLE GOAT

Student response to One Little Goat's PLAY: A Mini History of Theatre for Kids (Fall 2021). On the flip side, Molly writes: "Thank you for acting in the Play today. My favourite part was when Mavis actid out the cat."

As an official charity, One Little Goat, North America’s only company dedicated to poetic theatre, depends on individual donations to make productions possible. Your financial support is tax-deductible and greatly appreciated! Our office is volunteer-run, so 100% of your donation goes directly to programming.

How to donate:

1. Online through Canada Helps
2. E-transfer to onelittlegoattc@gmail.com
3. Cheque to One Little Goat Theatre Company, 422 Brunswick Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, M5R 2Z4, CANADA

THANK YOU!
WISHING HAPPY HOLIDAYS & A HEALTHY 2023

Claude Gauvreau’s revolutionary “Vampire” translated by GG-winner Ray Ellenwood receives first bilingual publication

(Le français suit)
“Toronto's enterprising One Little Goat Theatre Company” (New York Times) in association with Nouvelles Éditions de Feu-Antonin, is proud to present the first bilingual publication of The Vampire and the Nymphomaniac (Le vampire et la nymphomane) by revolutionary Montreal poet-playwright Claude Gauvreau, translated by Ray Ellenwood, winner of the Governor General Award in translation.

A tête-bêche bilingual publication (photo: Yves Dubé)

Book Launches — free to the public, all are welcome:

Toronto — 7pm Monday 14 November 2022 at the Tranzac, 292 Brunswick Ave
Montreal — 4pm Saturday 19 November at Le Port de Tête, 262 ave du Mont-Royal E.

This tête-bêche (flip book) bilingual publication of Gauvreau’s sole libretto — augmented by production photos as well as essays by the translator and editors — marks the first stand-alone edition of The Vampire and the Nymphomaniac in either French or English, its first ever English translation and the first bilingual edition of any of Gauvreau’s full-length texts.

Claude Gauvreau, Montréal, 1954 (photo: Gregori)

Claude Gauvreau (1925-1971)

Revered in Quebec as a visionary poet-playwright, an original contributor to the 1948 Refus Global manifesto by Montreal's Automatist movement, Claude Gauvreau is an artistic force. His innovative use of language, which he called "explorean", continues to inspire and provoke artists and audiences of every kind.

"Le Vampire," Chants Libre, Montréal 1996 (photo: Y.Dubé)

The Vampire and the Nymphomaniac

Le vampire et la nymphomane is a phantasmagoric love story of star-crossed lovers kept apart by the repressive forces of conventional society. Written in 1949 in Gauvreau’s inimitable, outrageous style, it premiered posthumously in a 1996 Montreal production by Chants Libres.

"Le Vampire," Chants Libre, Montréal 1996 (photo: Y.Dubé)

Lauding this new publication, Lorraine Pintal, Artistic Director of Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, writes: "It's as if we were hearing the language of gods and goddesses long forgotten on some island inhabited by strange animals. If we listen attentively to the text, we suddenly find ourselves dreaming of carnivalesque poetic flights…."

Translator & Contributors

Ray Ellenwood (translation & essay) is the author of Egregore: A History of the Montréal Automatist Movement (Exile) and translator of Total Refusal: the Complete Manifesto of the Montreal Automatists (Exile). He has translated two dramatic works by Claude Gauvreau: The Charge of the Expormidable Moose (Exile) and Entrails (Coach House), for which he won the Governor General Award in translation (then called the Canada Council Translation Prize). Ellenwood has also translated the work of Marie-Claire Blais, Jacques Ferron, Gilles Hénault, Thérèse Renaud and others, and has written widely on individual members of the Automatists, including Jean Paul Riopelle and Françoise Sullivan. Originally from Edmonton, Ellenwood lives in Toronto.

Born in Québec City, Thierry Bissonnette (essay) is a writer and researcher. Under the alias Thierry Dimanche, he has published several books of poetry and fiction, including, most recently, Tombeau de Claude Gauvreau (Leméac), an imaginary autobiography of the poet.

Originally from Vancouver, Adam Seelig (essay) is a poet, playwright, stage director and the founder of One Little Goat Theatre Company in Toronto, with which he staged the English-language premiere of Gauvreau’s The Charge of the Expormidable Moose at the Tarragon Theatre. His publications include Every Day in the Morning (slow) (New Star, shortlisted for the ReLit Award) and Ubu Mayor (Book*hug).

The Charge of the Expormidable Moose, Claude Gauvreau, One Little Goat, Toronto 2013

One Little Goat Theatre Company

One Little Goat, North America’s only company devoted to contemporary poetic theatre, “has done audiences a huge service” (Toronto Star) through its highly interpretive, provocative approach to international plays. The company's Canadian and world premieres have garnered praise from the New York Times, Globe and Mail, Economist, Now and others, and its play for young audiences, PLAY: A (Mini) History of Theatre for Kids has reached 36,000 elementary students in Toronto schools. One Little Goat is a registered charitable organization: www.OneLittleGoat.org

Book Ordering — purchase your copy today

Canadian Play Outlet
Les Libraires (URL forthcoming)
Discount orders >10: One Little Goat, 416.915.0201, onelittlegoattc@gmail.com
The Vampire and the Nymphomaniac / Le vampire et la nymphomane
168 pages, includes libretto and essays in French and English, photos
Print edition: $24.95, ISBN 978-1-7753255-6-7

The Vampire and the Nymphomaniac is generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Bureau du Québec à Toronto.  

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Media: For interviews with translator Ray Ellenwood, advance copies, excerpts and photos, please contact Adam Seelig (English) or Thierry Bissonnette (French), 416.915.0201, onelittlegoattc@gmail.com


Première publication bilingue du livret d’opéra de Claude Gauvreau « Le vampire » traduit par Ray Ellenwood, traducteur de Refus global

«L’innovatrice One Little Goat Theatre Company de Toronto» (New York Times), en association avec les Nouvelles Éditions de Feu-Antonin, est fière de présenter la première publication bilingue du Vampire et la nymphomane, du poète et dramaturge montréalais Claude Gauvreau, traduit par Ray Ellenwood, lauréat du Prix du Gouverneur général en traduction.

Publication bilingue en format tête-bêche (photo: Yves Dubé)

Lancement du livre - gratuit pour le public, tous sont les bienvenus

Toronto — 19h00 le lundi 14 novembre 2022, Tranzac Club, 292 Brunswick Ave
Montréal — 16h00 samedi 19 novembre, Le Port de Tête, 262 ave du Mont-Royal Est

Cette publication bilingue tête-bêche de l'unique livret d’opéra de Gauvreau - augmentée de photos de production ainsi que d'essais du traducteur et des éditeurs - constitue la première édition autonome de l’œuvre en français ou en anglais, sa toute première traduction en anglais, et la première édition bilingue d’un livre intégral de Gauvreau.

Claude Gauvreau, Montréal, 1954 (photo: Gregori)

Claude Gauvreau (1925-1971)

Poète et dramaturge visionnaire, collaborateur du manifeste automatiste Refus Global de 1948, Claude Gauvreau est une force artistique. Son utilisation novatrice du langage, qu'il appelait «exploréen», continue d'inspirer et de provoquer des artistes et des publics de toutes sortes.

"Le Vampire," Chants Libre, Montréal 1996 (photo: Yves Dubé)

Le vampire et la nymphomane

Le vampire et la nymphomane est l'histoire d'amour fantasmagorique d'amants maudits, séparés par les forces répressives de la société conventionnelle. Écrit en 1949 dans le style inimitable et outrancier de Gauvreau, il a été créé à titre posthume en 1996 à Montréal par Chants Libres.

"Le Vampire," Chants Libre, Montréal 1996 (photo: Yves Dubé)

Saluant cette nouvelle publication, Lorraine Pintal, directrice artistique du Théâtre du Nouveau Monde, écrit : « On croirait entendre la langue des dieux et des déesses oublié.es sur une île habitée par des animaux étranges. Si on écoute attentivement le texte, on se surprend à rêver à des envolées carnavalesques…. »

Traducteur et collaborateurs

Ray Ellenwood (traduction et essai) est l'auteur de Egrégore : une histoire du mouvement automatiste montréalais (éd. du Passage) et traducteur de Refus global. Il a traduit deux œuvres dramatiques de Claude Gauvreau : La charge de l’orignal épormyable et Les entrailles (Coach House) – pour laquelle il a remporté le Prix du Gouverneur général en traduction (alors appelé Prix de traduction du Conseil des Arts du Canada). Ellenwood a également traduit les œuvres de Marie-Claire Blais, Jacques Ferron, Gilles Hénault, Thérèse Renaud et d'autres, et a beaucoup écrit sur des membres de l’automatisme, notamment Jean Paul Riopelle et Françoise Sullivan. Originaire d'Edmonton, Ellenwood vit à Toronto.

Né à Québec, Thierry Bissonnette (essai) est écrivain et chercheur. Sous le pseudonyme de Thierry Dimanche, il a publié plusieurs livres de poésie et de fiction, dont le plus récent, Tombeau de Claude Gauvreau (Leméac), est une autobiographie imaginaire du poète.

Originaire de Vancouver, Adam Seelig (essai) est poète, dramaturge, metteur en scène et fondateur de la One Little Goat Theatre Company à Toronto, avec laquelle il a monté la première en langue anglaise de La charge de l’orignal épormyable (The Charge of the Expormidable Moose) de Gauvreau au Tarragon Theatre. Il a notamment publié Every Day in the Morning (slow) (New Star, présélectionné pour le prix ReLit) et Ubu Mayor (Book*hug).

La charge de l'orignal epormyable, Claude Gauvreau, One Little Goat, Toronto 2013

ONE LITTLE GOAT THEATRE COMPANY 

One Little Goat, la seule compagnie d'Amérique du Nord consacrée au théâtre poétique contemporain, «a rendu un énorme service au public» (Toronto Star) grâce à son approche hautement interprétative et provocatrice des pièces internationales. Les premières canadiennes et mondiales de la compagnie ont été saluées par le New York Times, le Globe and Mail, Economist, Now et d'autres, et sa pièce pour jeunes publics, PLAY : A (Mini) History of Theatre for Kids, a touché 36 000 élèves du primaire dans les écoles de Toronto. One Little Goat est une organisation caritative enregistrée: www.OneLittleGoat.org

Commande de livres - achetez votre exemplaire dès aujourd'hui

Play Outlet
Les Libraires (URL à venir)
Commandes à prix réduit >10 : One Little Goat, 416.915.0201, onelittlegoattc@gmail.com
The Vampire and the Nymphomaniac / Le vampire et la nymphomane
168 pages, comprend le livret et des essais en français et en anglais, photos
Édition imprimée : 24,95 dollars, ISBN 978-1-7753255-6-7

Le vampire et la nymphomane a reçu le généreux soutien du Conseil des Arts du Canada et du Bureau du Québec à Toronto.  

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La presse: Pour des entrevues avec le traducteur Ray Ellenwood, des copies préliminaires, des extraits et des photos, veuillez contacter Thierry Bissonnette (français) ou Adam Seelig (anglais), 416.915.0201, onelittlegoattc@gmail.com

One Little Goat in 2022

While the pandemic may not provide the ideal conditions for theatrical gatherings (!), One Little Goat is still finding ways to bring people together, safely, through dynamic, poetic theatre. We did it in 2021 and will continue to do so in 2022. Read on to learn how. And if you can, please support One Little Goat's programming with a tax-deductible donation — as a registered charity, we depend on individual donations to realize productions, and we want to thank you for helping us make them happen. See you next year! In the meantime, wishing happy holidays and a healthy year ahead, -Adam Seelig, Artistic Director


“A WAY A LONE A LAST A LOVED A LONG THE RIVERRUN..."

Constantin Brancusi's "portrait" of Joyce (1929)

The Embassy of Ireland in Canada has awarded One Little Goat a grant to record James Joyce’s final work, Finnegans Wake. Intended to be heard as much as read, Joyce’s 628-page dreamlike novel of mind-blowing virtuosity is essentially impossible to read, and yet Dublin-born Richard Harte (One Little Goat’s Ubu Mayor, Music Music Life Death Music) has a remarkable knack for it, partly attributable to his two decades as a leading member of Toronto’s Annalivia Players, who perform Joyce’s Ulysses annually.

Andrew Moodie in Talking Masks: Oedipussy

Together with Artistic Director Adam Seelig, Harte is teaming up with celebrated actor-playwright-filmmaker Andrew Moodie (Talking Masks, Like the First Time) to capture the enrapturing cadences of Joyce’s text. In the meantime, if you’re looking for a way into the world of Joyce’s surreal book, Anthony Burgess’s introduction is an excellent place to start.

Rembrandt’s “Belshazzar's Feast,” p.18 of Finnegans Wake

Whack fol the dah now dance to your partner,
Welt the flure, your trotters shake,
Wasn't it the truth I told you,
Lots of fun at Finnegan's wake!

— 19th-century Irish American folk song


One Little Goat’s PLAY outdoors, fall 2021

PLAY REACHES 36,000 KIDS IN 140 SCHOOLS

Thanks to your support and the perseverance of actors Rochelle Bulmer, Jessica Salgueiro and Richard Harte, One Little Goat brought PLAY: A (Mini) History of Theatre for Kids to 4,500 elementary students and educators across Toronto this fall, live and in person.

Having performed PLAY for over 120 school gyms before the pandemic, we moved our performances outdoors this fall to ensure students could still experience the performing arts in person in a pandemic-safe environment. This outdoor tour fulfilled One Little Goat's goal, with support from the Ontario Trillium Foundation, of bringing dynamic theatre to 36,000 kids in over 140 Toronto schools, primarily schools with greater need, free of charge. For most of the youngest kids, this was their first live performance ever.

One Little Goat’s PLAY outdoors, fall 2021

The play was fantastic! The kids were excited during and after. In our School Council meeting that evening a parent mentioned that her kindergarten daughter was talking about Antigone [Greek Tragedy included in PLAY] after the play. How amazing is that? The students got the opportunity to experience theatre under the sky (outside) which was such a treat in light of the ban on co-curriculars due to the pandemic. The troupe was funny, and relatable. We are so appreciative of this opportunity that was given to us, at no cost.

—Cathy Chumfong, Principal, Carleton Village Public School

From One Little Goat’s Report on PLAY and Performing Arts in Schools

For more, please visit our Report on PLAY and Performing Arts in Schools:

  • nearly 60% of schools attend no (“Ø”) live performances in a given year

  • cost is the biggest barrier to performances for nearly 70% of schools


THE VAMPIRE AND THE NYMPHOMANIAC

Chants Libre, "Le Vampire," Montréal 1996

"Ainsi la vie s’étend comme une tente de confiserie, comme un étang de liqueur mauve où le lys d’eau recueilli enflamme les joncs bleuisseurs."
"Thus, life extends like a confectionery tent, like a pond of mauve liqueur where the contemplative water lily inflames the blueblushing bullrush."

Claude Gauvreau, paintings by Pierre Gauvreau, Montréal, 1954 (photo by Gregori)

Ray Ellenwood has nearly completed his English translation of Claude Gauvreau’s extraordinary libretto, The Vampire and the Nymphomaniac, with support from a Canada Council grant secured by One Little Goat. Although the pandemic has slowed the publication process, we are working with colleagues in Quebec to issue a beautiful bilingual edition of this “explorean” script from 1949, introducing new audiences to Gauvreau’s revolutionary writing. As Le Devoir succinctly put it, “Gauvreau is a giant!”


Student review of PLAY outdoors (Fall 2021)

PLEASE SUPPORT ONE LITTLE GOAT

As an official charity, One Little Goat Theatre Company, North America’s only company dedicated to poetic theatre, depends on individual donations to make productions possible. Your financial support is tax-deductible and greatly appreciated! Our office is volunteer-run, so 100% of your donation goes directly to programming.

How to donate:

  1. Online through Canada Helps

  2. E-transfer to onelittlegoattc@gmail.com

  3. Cheque to One Little Goat Theatre Company, 422 Brunswick Ave, Toronto, ON, M5R 2Z4, CANADA

THANK YOU!
WISHING HAPPY HOLIDAYS & A HEALTHY 2022