Canadian Gothic
by Joanna McClelland Glass
directed by Therese Parent
Cast: Dianne Couves, Howard Joynt, Dan Bragg, Sharon Pratico
Play Dates: September 19 to 23rd, 2006
Synopsis:
Presented on a virtually bare stage, with the characters speaking sometimes to the audience and sometimes
to each other, the play uses language of poetic eloquence and incision to illuminate its tale of an ill-fated
love affair and the family it destroys. It begins with the evocative memories of the mother and father,
a Saskatchewan dentist and his mildly rebellious wifeand then goes on, after the mother's death, to explore
the love which blossoms between their daughter and a young Indian. Sadly the romance results in tragedy rather
than happiness, leading to the conception of a child out of wedlock, the accidental blinding of the dentist,
the jailing of the young Indian and, in the end, a bittersweet accommodation between father and daughter as
they face the long, futile years still left to them.