The Tale of Teeka

Ian C. Nelson is the former Assistant Director of Libraries (Collection
Management & Budget) at the University of Saskatchewan and Dramaturge
for the Festival de la Dramaturgie des Prairies.

First produced in June 1991, L’histoire de l’oie has quickly become
an award-winning and internationally acclaimed children’s play
performed in its original French as well as in English, German, and
Spanish. Subtitled “A Tale for Humiliated Children,” the play deals
with hereditary violence and its effect on a little boy, Maurice, and a
pet goose in his farm yard. With clever and seductive narration, the
story is relived from the perspectives of both Maurice and the goose.

The particular charm Michel Marc Bouchard employs makes the inevitable
consequences of violent domestic and parental reality all the more
devastating and moving. The child Maurice and the goose of the title
wrap the intrusions of a hostile world in a disarming logic and
simplicity. The message packs an incredible punch. The Tale of Teeka is
bound to become a children’s classic.