About the Play:

1949 was runner-up for the 1989 Chalmers Canadian Play Award

1949 is a full-length drama by David French. Centres around the Mercers, a deeply rooted Newfoundland family that has relocated to Toronto, where the play is set. At the time, Newfoundland is on the verge of joining confederation and the family is morally divided at the notion of their homeland losing its independence.

1949 continues the saga of the Mercer family's struggle between belonging and displacement on the eve of Newfoundland joining confederation. The Mercer family, enlarged to include the extended family as well as off-stage characters from earlier plays, is reunited for the occasion – and sparks fly as some mourn the passing of an independent Newfoundland. David French deals with the emotional and political decisions that the characters must come to as Newfoundland joins Confederation on April Fool's Day (true!) in 1949. As recent immigrants to Toronto, the members of the Mercer family see this event both as a new future and as a loss of Newfoundland's culture and independence. With humour, poignancy and insight, David French explores the meaning of having a country. The Canadian classic 1949 is the fourth play in The Mercer Family play cycle.

1949 premiered in 1988 at the Canadian Stage Company in Toronto. Since then it has been consistently delighting audiences, and has become a staple of community theatres, regional repertory houses, and high schools.

Cast: 6 female, 6 male, 2 boys

What people say:

"A transplanted Newfoundlander, French never strayed far from the rich vein of family lore and tradition he mined to create these classics, including Leaving Home and Of the Fields, Lately. [In The Mercer Family Play Cycle] David French created the Canadian equivalents of Tennessee Williams's characters with their haunting, visceral, essential take on leaving home, politics, love and the eternal drama of families." — The Book of Lists

"Although 1949 is about conflicts within the Mercer family arising from Newfoundland's decision to enter confederation, its spiritual ancestry is universal. With the love French bears his characters, and the humour, poignancy, and insight that grace every scene, 1949 stands squarely in the rich tradition of World literature — Chekhov springs to mind — that maps the intricate joys and torment of the human soul." — Metropolis

"Written on an epic scale with an epic theme ... The stories are told with French's warm humour and effortless command of stage convention." — The Globe and Mail

"A glorious romp of Newfoundland humour and pathos." — The Montreal Gazette

"Hilarious." — Winnipeg Free Press

About the Playwright:

David French (1939-2010) was one of Canada's most popular and critically-acclaimed playwrights. He is best remembered for the semi-autobiographical Mercer Family plays, such as Leaving Home, which chronicle the lives of a Newfoundland family with humour and pathos. The Mercer plays have received hundreds of productions across North America, including a Broadway production of Of the Fields, Lately. This quintet of plays has also touched audiences in Europe, South America and Australia. His backstage comedy Jitters has been performed all over the continent, and most of his plays have had successful international runs, including two Broadway productions. In 1989, David French was inducted into the Newfoundland Arts Hall of Honour, and in 2001 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada.