About the Play:

Mary's Wedding has long been a favourite of acting teachers for Female/Male scene-study showcases.

Mary's Wedding is a full-length drama by Stephen Massicotte. A play with a heart as big as the prairie skies that serve as its stage, Mary's Wedding is an epic, unforgettable story of love, hope and survival, which is set against the backdrop of the First World War. Particularly suitable for schools and play contests.

Mary's Wedding is a love story set in 1920, just after The Great War, as it was called then. A young bride to be dreams one last night of love and war. Hiding from a summer thunderstorm Mary is charmed by the sweet vulnerability of the young farm boy Charlie Edwards. With the help of the open beauty of the prairies and the passion of late night horse back rides, Mary's English reserve and Charlie's shyness give way to full fledged love. But the year is 1914, the world is about to fall under the dark clouds of the Great War and the strength of their bond is about to be tested. A love letter to the power of memory, hope and innocent dreams. Mary's Wedding is a moving memorial to both the Great War and great love.

Mary's Wedding premiered in 2002 at the Alberta Theatre Projects' playRites Festival and was the winner of the 2000 Alberta Playwriting Competition, the 2002 Betty Mitchell Award for Outstanding New Play, and the 2003 Alberta Book Award. One of the most celebrated of Canadian plays, it has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and has received more than a hundred productions in Canada, the United States, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, and received its overdue Toronto premiere in 2019 at Streetcar Crowsnest.

Cast: 1 female, 1 male

What people say:

"A lovely and wonderfully touching gem! Don't miss this romantically powerful drama." — Chicago Critic

"Journey's End meets Talley's Folly in Stephen Massicotte's romance Mary's Wedding, which uses a dream motif to tell its story of mismatched lovers – set against the backdrop of WWI – while weaving a theatrical spell of hope, regret and memory. For the most part, the show works wonderfully, giving the Canadian scribe's single-set two-hander a promising forecast for future productions where poignant love stories are welcome." — Variety

"Massicotte's play about love, separation and regret is an unpretentious winner – lyrical, warm and sweet spirited, a love story that avoids mushiness, a war story that doesn't assault us with earnest speeches." — Ottawa Citizen

"With an impressive economy of means – only one set, two actors and no intermission – Massicotte has combined a fictional romance with the true story of a heroic World War I exploit." — New York Times

"If this production had been a film I would have watched the whole thing all over again the minute it ended." — New York Theatre Wire

"Puts you in mind of the grand passion of Catherine and Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights, the vastness of their love mirroring the wild tangle of nature." — Washington Times

"Massicotte doesn't push his anti-war message. He doesn't have to. The charm of his romance juxtaposed against prosaic descriptions from the trenches… do it for him." — San Francisco Chronicle

"Mary's Wedding could only have been written by a young playwright because only the young would dare skirt so close to the edge of pulp fiction sentimentality. And only a playwright with mature promise could pull it off." — Calgary Sun

About the Playwright:

Stephen Massicotte is a Canadian playwright, screenwriter, and actor from Calgary. His award winning plays include Mary's Wedding and The Clockmaker which received the Toronto Theatre Critics' Association Award for Best Canadian Play.