September 30, 2005 -

“Howie le Rookie is street theatre brought to the stage. Real back-alley theatre. . . .
As full of sweat and blood as the wildest  action movie. . . . A highlight of the season.”
– Hervé Guay, Le Devoir

“It’s a kind of contemporary Way of the Cross: raw, direct, intense, fascinating, rough and soft.”
– Marie-Christine Blais, La Presse

Ottawa, Ontario -- When you live in the slums of Dublin’s North Side, if someone owes you money you grab your crowbar. . . and aim for the kneecaps: that way you’re sure to get the cash. In two interwoven monologues, in raw and unadorned language, Howie le Rookie, by Irish playwright Mark O’Rowe, peels away a sordid surface to reveal a perceptive exploration of ageless human themes: friendship, destiny, blood ties, vengeance, loyalty, courage that seeks no reward; and ultimately offers a moving tribute to the great and ancient notion of redemption.

With Howie le Rookie, Montreal’s Théâtre de la Manufacture launches its 30th season and marks the 25th birthday of the company’s performance space, La Licorne. The National Arts Centre (NAC) French Theatre is proud to celebrate this double milestone by presenting, from October 5 to 8, 2005, this landmark production in the company’s history. (As well, La Manufacture will return from March 1 to 4, 2006, with one of its latest productions: Gagarin Way, by Scottish playwright Gregory Burke, directed by Michel Monty and featuring David Boutin, Daniel Gadouas, Stéphane Jacques and Francis Poulin.)

Howie le Rookie demonstrates the Théâtre de La Manufacture’s longstanding commitment to contemporary theatre, conveyed in a brilliant theatrical approach founded on authenticity, simplicity and discipline. This powerful production, in a luminous translation by a master wordsmith, writer and translator Olivier Choinière, is directed with crisp precision by longtime La Manufacture associate Fernand Rainville (Trick or Treat, Poor Superman). Featured in the cast are two outstanding actors: Claude Despins (Littoral, Horloge biologique, Temps dur) and Maxime Denommée (Cheech, Idole instantanée, Rumeurs).

From its very first performance at La Licorne in 2002, Howie le Rookie has caused a sensation at every venue. Audiences and critics alike are quick to praise its artistic merits: tight, fast-paced writing, concise and sensitive translation, rigorous direction, fabulous performances by two young actors, Claude Despins and Maxime Denommée (who won the 2003 “Masque” for Best Performance for his unforgettable portrayal of Rookie Lee). The play “has undeniable dramatic power and throbs with humour as dark as Guinness,” wrote Hervé Guay in Le Devoir, while in La Presse, Marie-Christine Blais described the play as “a talking film in two voices, beautifully adapted by Olivier Choinière, backed up by a sound score and lighting effects that ‘operate’ instantly.” By the end of this third successful tour, Howie le Rookie will have racked up 95 performances!

Howie le Rookie
by Mark O’Rowe
Translated by Olivier Choinière
Directed by Fernand Rainville
With Maxime Denommée and Claude Despins

Assistant directors: Jean Gaudreau and Robert Vézina
Set design: Patricia Ruel / Costume design: Maryse Bienvenu
Original score: Larsen Lupin / Lighting design: André Rioux
Makeup: Suzanne Trépanier
Produced by the Théâtre de La Manufacture (Montreal)

October 5, 6, 7 & 8, 2005 at 20:00 in the NAC Studio

Tickets $30.50 (Students $16.25)
On sale at the NAC Box Office (no service charges), through Ticketmaster (at all Ticketmaster outlets or by ‘phone, 613-755-1111) or online at www.nac-cna.ca

Groups of 10 or more receive up to 20% off regular ticket prices. For more information, please contact (613) 947-7000, ext. 384, or grp@nac-cna.ca

Synopsis
Dublin’s North Side, one of the city’s poorest neighbourhoods, where people have nothing left but their (vestigial) honour and a tendency to defend it with crowbars. In an episode involving an old mattress and a nasty skin condition, Howie Lee gets dragged into a vendetta against the like-sounding Rookie Lee. However, the handsome Rookie already has someone after him: if he doesn’t immediately come up with 700 pounds in cash—in payment for some Siamese fighting fish he accidentally killed—he can kiss his kneecaps goodbye.

About the playwright
Born in Dublin, where he still lives, Mark O’Rowe began writing for the stage just over a decade ago and is now acknowledged as one of Ireland’s most promising young playwrights. After writing several short plays for young audiences, he penned his first adult play, From Both Hips, which was staged in Dublin and Glasgow and won the Stewart Parker BBC Radio Drama Award. Howie the Rookie premiered in Ireland in 1999 and has since toured literally around the world (notably in the UK, Sweden, Germany, Japan, the USA and Canada). The play’s London debut in 1999 earned O’Rowe the prestigious George Devine Award for Most Promising Playwright and the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, followed by the Irish Times/ESB New Play Award and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival Best Play Award. Mark O’Rowe has close to a dozen plays to his credit, including The Aspidistra Code, From Both Hips, Howie the Rookie, Made in China, Kissaway and Crestfall (produced last season by the Théâtre de La Manufacture in French translation as Tête première, directed by Maxime Denommée in his directorial debut). In early 2002 Mark O’Rowe branched out into screenwriting with the original script for the feature film Intermission, released in the fall of 2003.

The National Arts Centre French Theatre gratefully acknowledges the support of its media partners for this production: Le Droit, Voir, Transcontinental, and Radio Énergie 104.1 FM.

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Informatin:
Guy Warin, Communications & Media Relations Officer
French Theatre – Canada’s National Arts Centre
(613) 947-7000 or 1 866 850-2787, ext. 759
gwarin@nac-cna.ca