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THE DIVINERS - PRESS
REVIEWS
Everything About The Diviners is Exquisite
-The Slotkin Letter
"Vern Thiessen and Yvette Nolan have adapted Margaret Laurence’s book beautifully with sensitivity, vision and a boldness to bring this tough story to the stage. The Diviners is directed with vivid imagery and creativity by Krista Jackson with Genevieve Pelletier. The spirit/ghost of Piquette (played with quiet dignity by Caleigh Crow) followed Morag’s daughter Pique (Julie Lumsden) as if to protect her. It’s a lovely image that bonds the Indigenous world and the white world together."
A Must See!
--My Entertainment World
"A hard, complex, uniquely Canadian story adapted with sensitivity for a new medium and staged with stirring creativity and moving performances, The Diviners represents the very best of modern work at the Stratford Festival. A true achievement I sincerely hope doesn’t get overshadowed."
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A Brilliant Distillation of Laurence’s Masterwork
-The Stratford Beacon- Herald
"Towering performance and bold choices elevate The Diviners...
Yvette Nolan and Vern Thiessen accomplish the near-impossible with their wonderfully realized adaptation of The Diviners…
Driven by Poole’s masterful performance, and some bold creative choices by Jackson, Pelletier and designer Bretta Gerecke, The Diviners is an affective piece of theatre, carrying an emotional heft that resonates long after the curtain closes on this world premiere.”
Grand and Glorious - A Major Achievement
-Ontario Stage
“One of the major achievements of The Diviners, the play, is that [Vern] Thiessen and [Yvette] Nolan have done an excellent job of nipping and tucking characters and plot points to render an epic story into a lucid two and a half hour theater piece that captures the essence of Laurence’s work…
Even more impressive is the way in which this iteration of The Diviners makes manifest the interlacing metaphors and themes of the novel.
The Diviners is a major achievement and one of the highlights of the Stratford Festival’s season.”
If anyone tells you that Canadian literature or drama is boring, send them to The Diviners as a show that thrillingly refutes that notion.
-Stage Door
"Thiessen and Nolan have created in their stage version one of the finest, most complex roles for a woman in Canadian Theatre. The adaptation presents the complex work with admirable clarity reinforced by the imaginative direction of Krista Jackson with Geneviève Pelletier."
A Performance Not to Be Missed!
--Our Theatre Voice
"At its heart, “The Diviners” is about a mother reconnecting with her daughter and wondering how to write her own happy ending with the people she cares about. Weaved throughout is the history of the Métis and Indigenous peoples in Manitoba. But it’s Laurence’s original overarching themes of reconciliation between cultures that make this play so important, so relevant, for today’s audiences!"
The Diviners Seeks to Find Salvation and Epic Connectivity
--Front Mezz Junkies
"Dancing us through and bouncing us back and forth from past to present, and sometimes to fables and campfire origin stories, The Diviners lives in the tangled construct that doesn’t feel so split in the end. It discovers the well full of peace and connectivity that it has been seeking throughout.
Could Spark a Margaret Laurence Revival
--The Globe and Mail
Clearly, care has been taken to include First Nations and Métis in this stage retelling – and expand on their presence in the story.
Haunting Dreamlike
-The Toronto Star
“Irene Poole, onstage for almost the entire play, is wonderful in the role. She plays Morag’s younger self with a shy curiosity. And as the adult version of the character, Poole turns that curiosity into a wistful longing, as Morag scours through fragmented recollections from her past…
(The) dance sequences... take on a haunting, dreamlike quality as the ensemble fills the elongated thrust stage. Another choreographed scene — featuring Morag frantically typing away as the chorus swirls around her holding papers of her manuscript... transports the audience into Morag’s mind.”
ARTICLES
How the Stratford Festival adapted The Diviners for the stage
-Toronto Star
https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/stage/how-the-stratford-festival-adapted-one-of-canadian-literatures-most-epic-classic-novels-for-the/article_49875a40-58af-11ef-8865-f70f0deb71db.html
5 Questions with Yvette Nolan from The Diviners
-Stratford Festival Reviews
https://stratfordfestivalreviews.com/blog/2024/08/20/5-questions-with-yvette-nolan-from-the-diviners/
Jesse Gervais debuts role of Jules Tonnere in The Diviners
-Sesay Arts
https://www.sesayarts.com/jesse-gervais-the-diviners/?fbclid=IwY2xjawFT6OJleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHaxOGsB99-E8qJxttPtfou_HiGs4b8TtrSO1MYq0W0H_GUYF0q0RFcPo3w_aem_-_7X2Ehvlbrbmox66Z90Hw