Tom at the Farm - by Michel Marc Bouchard (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Lambda Literary Award, Drama: Michel Marc Bouchard, Tom at the Farm, translated by Linda Gaboriau (Winner)

Following the accidental death of his lover, and in the throes of his grief, urban ad executive Tom travels to the country to attend the funeral and to meet his mother-in-law, Agatha, and her son, Francis - neither of whom know Tom even exists. Arriving at the remote rural farm, and immediately drawn into the dysfunction of the family's relationships, Tom is blindsided by his lost partner's legacy of untruth. With the mother expecting a chainsmoking girlfriend, and the older brother hellbent on preserving a facade of normalcy, Tom is coerced into joining the duplicity until, at last, he confronts the torment that drove his lover to live in the shadows of deceit.

The lover - the friend, the son, the brother, the nameless dead man - has left behind a fable woven of false-truths which, according to his own teenage diaries, were essential to his survival. In this same rural setting, one young man had once destroyed another young man who loved yet another. Like an ancient tragedy, years later, this drama will shape the destiny of Tom.

In a play that unfolds with progressively blurred boundaries between lust and brutality, between truth and elaborate fiction, Bouchard dramatizes how gay men often must learn to lie before they learn how to love. Throughout 2011 and 2012, Tom at the Farm was produced in Quebec and France, as Tom à la ferme, and in Mexico, as Tom en la granja. Award-winning Quebec director Xavier Dolan adapted the play for the screen in 2013, with Caleb Landry Jones in the leading role.

Cast of 2 women and 2 men.

Review Quotes

"Extremely well written, a work of great density."
- Catherine Perrin, CBC

"Funny, harsh, tender, and terrible, the play engages us in a twisted game that plays itself in a rural setting where innocence and boiling anger collide." - Montreal Sun

"Mother, brother and lover fall into a nightmarish relationship where all play dangerous roles. ... Tom moves us in and out of the narrative by frequently addressing his dead lover or himself. Through this dual consciousness, the audience must share the pain and violence of homophobia."
- Canadian Literature

About the Author

Québec playwright Michel Marc Bouchard emerged on the professional theatre scene in 1985. Since then, he has written more than 25 plays, many of which have been translated into more than 20 languages and performed globally. Several of his works have been adapted into films, notably Lilies (1996), directed by John Greyson, and Tom at the Farm (2013), directed by Xavier Dolan.

Throughout his career, Bouchard has received numerous accolades, including the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement (2023), the Prix Athanase-David (2021)--Quebec's highest literary honour--the National Order of Quebec (2012), and the Order of Canada (2005). He has also been honoured with the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play, the Chalmers Canadian Play Award, and the Lambda Literary Award for Best Drama.

Linda Gaboriau is an award-winning literary translator based in Montreal. Her translations of plays by Quebec's most prominent playwrights have been published and produced across Canada and abroad. In her work as a literary manager and dramaturge, she has directed numerous translation residencies and international exchange projects. She was the founding -director of the Banff International Literary Translation Centre. Gaboriau has twice won the Governor General's Award for Translation.