What's On

Simon Doucet has lost the best years of his life to prison. Once an impassioned schoolboy he is now nothing more than an embittered old man. Summoning his old friend Bishop Bilodeau to hear his confession, Simon seeks more than absolution, he seeks revenge. Rather than the holy confession the bishop expects, Bilodeau is forced to watch a play performed by Simon’s fellow prisoners – a play uncomfortably close to his own human depravity. The bishop can only look on in powerless horror as the prisoners fantastically and graphically recreate his obsessive love for Simon, his jealousy of the young Count Vallier, and the fateful events of the summer of 1912. 

Lilies and its writer Michel Marc Bouchard have won numerous awards and accolades, including the Montreal Journal’s Award for Literary Excellence, the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play and the Chalmers Award for an outstanding Canadian play.

“A play of devastating emotional authenticity and captivating lyricism.” – Luc Bélanger, Montreal Campus

“Through a play within a play within a play, French-Canadian writer Michel Marc Bouchard tenderly explores an adolescent, homosexual love affair and a senior cleric’s attempts to deny it to himself and the world.” – Barbara Lewis, The Stage

Sinister Shadow is thrilled to be staging a rare UK performance of this extraordinary play.