Theatre
La Sagouine
Antonine Maillet · 1971
Synopsis
Sixteen monologues for a single voice, that of a seventy-two-year-old woman, born with the century, the daughter of a cod fisherman, a former sailors' girl, the wife of a smelt fisherman, who scrubs other people's floors. Leaning on her broom and her bucket, she talks about herself, her neighbours, the priest and the Church, the life of the village: work, the census, priests, church pews, Christmas, the war, spring, death. She can neither read nor write, and her real name is never given.
Context
Written for Radio-Canada in Moncton, these monologues were first read on air by the author in 1970, then published by Leméac in 1971. Viola Léger, a drama teacher who had trained at the school of Jacques Lecoq and an intimate friend of the author, took them to the stage the same year with the amateur troupe of the Feux-Chalins, in Moncton, in a production by Eugène Gallant: it was her first role. She played it about three thousand times over more than forty years. The character is inspired by real women of Bouctouche, among them Sarah Cormier.
Who it is for
A short text, to be read aloud. The Acadian language takes some effort at first; the Leméac editions provide a glossary.
Prizes and reception
Having become the emblematic character of Acadia, she gave her name to the Pays de la Sagouine, a park opened in Bouctouche in 1992.
Sources for this page 14
The pages consulted to check this page.