Impromptu on Nuns' Island

An opera diva, Patricia, (almost fifty) meets her Waterloo singing SalomÈ at the OpÈra Bastille in Paris. In an impromptu get-together in her Nun's Island penthouse, on the afternoon of her return from Europe, her mother, a popular Montreal stage and television actress (pushing seventy), and her idealistic committed-to-new-work daughter (pushing 30) goad her : What is the sense of an international career if your art doesn't contribute to change (or at least to wide-spread pleasure and inspiration) in the society you live in? An international opera star lives in hotel rooms around the world, so what is the meaning (and the impact) of her art, and on what, or who's society? Is Patricia right in thinking that in this age of globalization an artist who chooses to stay home is doomed to mediocrity? These questions, this tri-generational drama, are framed by the diva's gay pianist who packs his bags and comes running to accompany her, whenever and wherever she callsä. AKAKLike all of Tremblay's plays, Impromptu on Nuns' Island is a multi-layered tour-de-force about art, life and politics from a matchless writer of tragicomic women. Grounded in the myth of the eternal return, the universal and chthonic story of the triple goddess and her androgynous male consort, this impromptu also interrogates the evolution of the role of the artist in Quebec's increasingly distinct culture and society.AKAK AKAKIn QuÈbec, a new Tremblay play is like a fresh tablet from Moses.AKAKóMontreal GazetteAKAK AKAK AKAKISBN 0-88922-470-6 ; $16.95 Canada / $12.95 U.S.A.AK©2002; 128pp; 1st printingAKAKAK--------------------------------------------------------------------------------AKAKTo order TalonbooksTremblay, Michel is the author of 'Impromptu on Nuns' Island' with ISBN 9780889224704 and ISBN 0889224706.