carried away on the crest of a wave
By David Yee | Translated to French by Maryse Warda
New Translation Commission
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New Translation Canada | Nouvelle Traduction Canada
in association with Centre des auteurs dramatiques (CEAD)
carried away on the crest of a wave
By David Yee
French Translator: Maryse Warda
From the shore of Ko Phi Phi in Thailand to a suburb in Utah to a mysterious Kafkaesque hole in the ground, carried away on the crest of a wave gives us brief glimpses into the lives of a sphinx-like escort, a grieving father, a conflicted priest, brothers of legend, a felonious housewife, an accountant of time, an orphaned boy, a radio shock jock and a man who finds things. Each are connected, primarily, by the cataclysmic 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that claimed the lives of over a quarter million people. In a series of vignettes, carried away on the crest of a wave illustrates the ripple effect of one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history and ponders what happens when the events that bind us together are the same events that tear us apart.
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Meet the playwright & translator
David Yee
David Yee’s work crosses forms – digital theatre, new media/performance hybrids, site-specific forms, opera – and ranges in scale from mainstage epics to intimate one-on-one performances. David exemplifies and supports the best of the Toronto community and inspires Asian Canadian and other BIPOC artists nationwide. His artistic influence stretches across this country, and his excellent, inventive, moving and often hilarious work deserves to be seen by a wider audience.
“The art I have always pursued offers no simple answers. Rather, it compels us to ask better questions. It chases what is essential about our experience, what is urgent, what is honest.” – David Yee
Maryse Warda
Born and raised in Egypt, Maryse landed in Montreal at age 9 ½ where she learned English watching Happy Days. In 1991, Pierre Bernard, artistic director of the Théâtre de Quat’Sous, hired her as his assistant, and gave her a first shot at translation – Cindy Lou Johnson’s Brilliant Traces – thus changing the course of her life.
Since then she has translated over 75 plays. She was instrumental in bringing the works of writers such as Daniel Brooks, Brad Fraser, John Mighton, Morris Panych, Erin Shields and George F. Walker to francophone audiences. She has also translated works from American, English, Scottish & Irish authors including Christopher Durang, Margaret Edson, David Greig, David Hare, David Mamet, Douglas Maxwell, Harold Pinter, Philip Ridley et Simon Stephens.
Her translation of George F. Walker’s Suburban Motel series earned her an award in 2000 from the Académie québécoise du théâtre, and was shortlisted for the 2001 Governor General’s Literary Award. But it’s her translation of Greg MacArthur’s The Toxic Bus Incident which garnered the GG in 2011.
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