The Quebec English-language premiere

Synopsis Since her return from Inuvik three months ago, Maggie has isolated herself in her new condo, still surrounded by unpacked boxes, neglecting her translation work, remaining unsettled. One morning, she spots a short article in her morning paper:

“February 2006: Chinese journalist Yu Dongyue, now thirty-eight years old, imprisoned during the 1989 demonstrations in Tiananmen Square, was released yesterday, according to his brother. Yu was sentenced to twenty years for throwing eggshells filled with red paint at the giant portrait of Chairman Mao, which dominates the Square, at the height of the demonstrations on May 23rd, 1989. Yu is said to have suffered frequent beatings in prison and is now mentally disabled.”

Shocked by the severity of this sentence, Maggie becomes obsessed with Yu’s story and with the motivations that drove him and his two friends to action. She finds herself scouring through her old journals, reading about her reactions to the original event in 1989, ultimately trying to make sense of her own choices and how they have shaped her life. As she digs for clues about Yu and neglects her work, she is interrupted by Lin, a newly arrived Chinese immigrant to whom she has promised to teach English, and by Jerry, an insistently friendly neighbour. Despite her best efforts, these two strangers insinuate themselves into her world. Ultimately, their growing friendship leads each to confront the challenges and complexities of diverging perspectives. LIN Now, Future Perfect.

When I came here, I thought: When I will have completed my studies, when I will have learned English, when I will have built my house in the forest, I will forget my mother’s fear and the Communist Party and the foolishness of tyrants and student leaders. When I will have my four children, when I will love my husband, I will forget. But now I think: maybe I will not forget.

Micheline Chevrier, director, writes: “In Thinking of Yu, Carole pits the everyman and the everywoman against the complexities of modern society. She makes the political personal, by tackling important and thorny issues through the understanding of the ordinary citizen. She challenges us to look outside ourselves, to leave the comfort of our place as observer and shake off our apathy.”

THINKING OF YU By Carole Fréchette Translation by John Murrell

Directed by Micheline Chevrier

April 24 – May 5, 2013 at Centaur Theatre