The hottest playwright in Canada right now is Wajdi Mouawad, bien sur. How often do you see this: someone was on Craigslist in Montreal offering $200 for tickets to see his new solo piece, Seuls, currently on at the Theatre d'Aujourd'hui.

Writes the poster:

So you'll know everything, it's for me and the girl who will become my wife! Not only is it a good deal, but it will also be a lifesaver :-)

Despite adding four extra shows, Seuls is entirely sold out in Montreal. If you haven't got tickets and aren't willing to pay scalpers, you'll have to go catch it in Ottawa at the NAC from October 14 to 18. I'll be there. On election day, no less. (Which reminds me, there is now an English-language translation of Mouawad's letter to the Prime Minister floating about the blogosphere.)

As for Mouawad's presence in English Canada, Richard Rose's marvelous remount of Scorched sold out its run at the Tarragon Theatre. (Here's my four-star review - I unlocked it especially for you.)

There's so much demand that the show will come back to Toronto in June for a third time. Torontonians may want to grab tickets now.

Or impatient T-dotters could head down the 401 to Montreal for a weekend trip and catch it at the Centaur Theatre, which is hosting the production from October 7 to November 2.

Winnipeggers can - and should! - catch it from November 13 to November 29 at the Manitoba Theatre Centre, while Edmontonians can see it at The Citadel in January.

Hmmm... I'm sounding a little bit like a press release here, aren't I? Well, I meant it when I said Scorched, "may be the best piece of theatre this country has produced this millennium."

If you're looking for a dissenting opinion (the Star gave it full marks, while The Sun gave it 4.5/5 stars), I'll pass you over to Robert Cushman, the only Toronto-based critic who hasn't bought into Scorched. Among his concerns, he doesn't like that it takes place in a "generalized Everycountry", which he says leads "to generalized characters".

Generally, I'm on side with the dramaturgical principle that universality springs from being specific with your characters and context, but you can't be dogmatic about it. Mouawad isn't writing in a realistic mode, but a poetic, semimythical one.

And when something works, it just works, regardless of whether it's following the rules. I knew I was connecting with Scorched on an intellectual level while I was watching it, but I was really surprised by the way it snuck up on me emotionally. I just started sobbing at the end. Embarrassed by my own reaction, I dashed for the exit while the applause was still going on and stumbled, tear-blinded out onto the street. I was overcome. (The last time that happened was at Chiwetel Ejiofor's Othello, when I just did not want him to kill Desdemona... Oh, I was devastated when he did!)

Another of Cushman's questions, I might be able to respond to with my head rather than my gut: "Why does [Alphonse] the lawyer (delightfully played by Alon Nashman) get his English proverbs wrong but nothing else? It isn't very plausible or, after the first few times, very funny."

For me, there's a thematic reason for Alphonse's malapropisms, in addition to it providing a little comic relief.

Scorched sets up the loveable lawyer, who is played with superb squirreliness by Nashman, as a man prone to garbling phrases. The next character we meet comically mangling words, however, also has a penchant for mangling bodies.

This chilling clown, played by Alex Poch-Goldin, is an artist as well as a murderer. He's a smiling sniper who takes snapshots of his kills with a camera strapped to the end of his rifle.

By contrasting Alphonse with the sniper, Mouawad challenges some of our assumptions about art and comedy. As I noted in my review, Mouawad wields humour "like the double-edged sword it is."

This to me, is what blows me away about the play. Scorched is deeply poetic and humanistic, but it somehow avoids ever lapsing into mindless romanticism or sentimentality.