GLENN Joyal's latest play, Des lions et leurs ponts, which opened the Cercle Molière's current season Friday night, is a cleverly plotted and mischievously satirical look at some of the issues of cultural identity currently impacting Canadian society. Although it is set in St. Boniface, the entire play can be seen as a microcosm of the issues affecting many Canadian communities.

Simultaneously, his wife, Madeleine, is lobbying for a Senate nomination to be announced in a few days. Visiting them is an old friend, Syd Rifkin, the official languages commissioner, whose son is engaged to marry their daughter. Added to the mix is a local businessman, Henri Benoît, the leader of Madeleine's nomination campaign, and an African priest, Father Dababa, whom, it is rumoured, is soon to be named the next archbishop of St. Boniface.