''Hosanna'' is a 1973 play by French-Canadian writer

Michel Tremblay Michel Tremblay (born 25 June 1942) is a French-Canadian novelist and playwright. Tremblay was born in Montreal, Quebec, where he grew up in the French-speaking neighbourhood of Plateau Mont-Royal; at the time of his birth, a neighbourhood wit ...

. The story takes place in the

Montreal, Quebec Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pea ...

apartment of Hosanna, a

drag queen A drag queen is a person, usually male, who uses drag clothing and makeup to imitate and often exaggerate female gender signifiers and gender roles for entertainment purposes. Historically, drag queens have usually been gay men, and part o ...

dressed as

Elizabeth Taylor Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011) was a British-American actress. She began her career as a child actress in the early 1940s and was one of the most popular stars of classical Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. ...

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Philopator ( grc-gre, Κλεοπάτρα Φιλοπάτωρ}, "Cleopatra the father-beloved"; 69 BC10 August 30 BC) was Queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom of Egypt from 51 to 30 BC, and its last active ruler.She was also a ...

, and centres on the relationship between her and Cuirette, an aging "stud" and gay biker, after they have returned from a Halloween party. It became the first Canadian play about and starring a drag queen when it was performed at

Théâtre de Quat'Sous The Théâtre de Quat'Sous is a Canadian theatre on Pine Avenue in the borough of Le Plateau-Mont-Royal in the city of Montreal, Quebec. Established in 1955, it is the third-oldest theatre company in Montreal after Théâtre du Rideau Vert and Th� ...

in Montreal in 1973. The play deals with several issues including gender identity, sexual identity, the ignorance and acceptance of ageing, and social expressions of homosexuality. Hosanna discusses her relationship with her mother and shows her anxieties over her knowledge of who she really is. The scholar and activist Viviane Namaste has criticized ''Hosanna'', which ends with its protagonist identifying as a gay man after a series of humiliations, as reinforcing a patriarchal,

transphobic Transphobia is a collection of ideas and phenomena that encompass a range of negative attitudes, feelings, or actions towards transgender people or transness in general. Transphobia can include fear, aversion, hatred, violence or anger tow ...

ideology in which a "reliance on the ideas of illusion, deception, and betrayal presupposes that we as transgendered people do not know who we are. ..It is through such a violently anti-transgendered discourse that Tremblay enables gay male subject-positions." The play was translated into English by John Van Burek and Bill Glassco. ''Hosanna'' was first performed at le Théâtre de Quat'sous in Montreal, Quebec, on 10 May 1973. ''Hosanna'' was first performed in English at

Tarragon Theatre The Tarragon Theatre is a theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and one of the main centers for contemporary playwriting in the country.

in Toronto, Ontario, on 15 May 1974. ''Hosanna'' then appeared on

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

in New York City at the Bijou Theatre on 14 October 1974. A

Tron Theatre The Tron Theatre is located in the corner of Trongate and Chisholm Street, in what was formerly the Tron Kirk which had started as the Collegiate Church of Our Lady and St. Anne in the Trongate area of Glasgow, Scotland. The Tron Steeple still ...

production of a translation of the play into contemporary Scots by

Bill Findlay Bill Findlay (29 October 1913 – 28 May 1986) was an Australian rules footballer who played with Footscray and North Melbourne in the Victorian Football League (VFL). He played as a rover and was sometimes pushed forward where he was a handy ...

and Martin Bowman was staged as part of

Glasgow Mayfest Glasgow Festivals include festivals for art, film, comedy, folk music and jazz. Glasgow also hosts an annual queer arts festival in November. Unlike the Edinburgh Festival (where the main festival and fringe festivals all occur around about the ...

in 1991.Wylie, Alan (1991)
''Wurld Party'', preview of ''Hosanna'' and ''The Real Wurld''
in ''The List'' 147, 3 - 16 May 1991, p. 21,

References

{{reflist 1973 plays Canadian LGBT-related plays Transgender-related theatre Plays set in Montreal Plays by Michel Tremblay Canadian plays adapted into films 1970s LGBT literature