About the Play:

All Fall Down has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Male Monologues.

All Fall Down is a full-length drama by Wendy Lill. Set in the midst of an alleged sexual abuse case at a daycare centre, All Fall Down follows the slow, relentless growth of a small lie, told by a jealous, guilt-ridden daycare parent, into a deadly whopper that fuels a witchhunt.

All Fall Down is a probing front-page drama, in which a woman daycare worker suspected of sexually abusing a child becomes a victim of public hysteria. A Crucible-inspired drama surrounding an inquiry into a doubtful molestation incident in a small town daycare, the play is about witch-hunting in the late twentieth century. The rumours and whispers in the community – every suspicion of the unusual, the eccentric, the unexplained – are added to the growing body of evidence that a heinous evil is afoot in the quiet innocence of the daycare centre. No distinction between circumstantial and substantive evidence is made: the evil is too profound, the threat too great. How, in such a poisoned atmosphere, does one maintain one’s sanity and reason, one’s imagination, compassion and sense of fairness? How does one determine what actually took place? What does one do in the absence of proof?

All Fall Down premiered in 1993 at Alberta Theatre Projects in Calgary during the playRites Festival of new Canadian drama and was nominated for the Governor General's Award for Drama in 1994 (Canadian equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize). Since then the play had regional premieres at professional theatres across Canada.

Cast: 2 female, 2 male

What people say:

"Lill writes with compassion and complexity, with an unerring eye and seemingly effortless finesse – what more could you ask for?" — Calgary Herald

"All Fall Down is not about child abuse but rather about protecting the search for truth ... Lill examines the roots of intolerance and hysteria and their effects on love..a powerful piece of work that affects every parent in the heart and gut. All Fall Down is a workout for the brain as well!" — Globe and Mail

About the Playwright:

Wendy Lill is a Canadian playwright and former parliamentarian who worked in various parts of Canada, finally settling in Nova Scotia. Her experiences in journalism and broadcasting influenced and encouraged her to "fictionalize real incidents and events." She has been described as a writer of "contemporary social issues with a clear-cut women's perspective." Her plays are produced in professional and community theatres and universities across Canada and internationally.