Accomplished cartoonist Paul lives alone in his Ahuntsic home with his dog Biscuit. He recently turned 50, and everything around him is falling apart: his wife has left him, his mother has cancer, and his daughter wants to move to London. Even his apple tree is sick! Paul feels like time is catching up with him. But the time he spends in the wilderness, with no lack of self-deprecation, has a therapeutic effect, and little by little, Paul learns to let go and embrace his new life.
Playwright Anne-Marie Olivier has adapted the graphic novel Paul at Home, a foray into the personal life of Michel Rabagliati, told with humour and a great deal of tenderness by the celebrated cartoonist, who had a hand in every stage of the script writing. An icon of Québec culture, the Paul series speaks to every generation with its truth, humour and authenticity. Director Lorraine Côté transposes this episode from the graphic novel panel to the stage, embracing both the dark corners and the light of this everyday hero’s world, drawing on the codes of shadow theatre, the theatre of objects and direct cinema, while giving Michel Rabagliati’s drawings – which have won the hearts of readers the world over – pride of place.
