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Unity (1918)
Unity (1918)
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Author: Kevin Kerr Publisher: Talonbooks (cover may change) Format: Softcover # of Pages: 128 Pub. Date: 2002 ISBN-10: 0889224617 ISBN-13: 9780889224612 Cast Size: 6 female, 3 male
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About
the Play:
Unity (1918) has become a favourite of acting teachers for Female/Male Scenes.
Unity (1918) is a full-length drama by Kevin Kerr. A
darkly humorous
play about a small Saskatchewan town fighting the 1918 influenza
epidemic against the backdrop of another Great War being fought at
the same time. Part Gothic romance, part pandemic horror story, Unity
(1918) is an epic chronicle of
this remarkable chapter of human history.
Unity (1918) is about the
worst biological disaster in human history. During the final few
weeks of World War I, the global Spanish Flu pandemic is spreading
across the country and has the entire town of Unity, Saskatchewan,
under siege from an invisible enemy, more horrifying and deadly than
the war. Seen through the lives of the charming, eccentric townsfolk,
including Beatrice Wilde and her two sisters, Mary and Sissy, as they
come of age in such a complicated and perilous time. While they mourn
the absence and loss of their young men – and love interests – to
a violent war overseas, their lives are irrevocably interrupted by
the contagious and lethal Spanish flu. One by one they receive notice
of men being killed in Europe; one by one the people of their town
fall in an equally devastating slaughter. Unity (1918) is a touching, intensely human and darkly comic
portrayal of a forgotten chapter in Canadian history.
Unity (1918) was first
produced in 2001 at Vancouver East Cultural Centre
(affectionately known as "The Cultch") and won the 2002 Governor General's
Literary Award for Drama (Canadian equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize). Featuring a large
cast filled with great roles for women and men, the
play has become a favourite scene study vehicle in acting classes and workshops and is a popular choice for school and community theatre productions.
Cast: 6 female, 3 male
What people say:
"Kerr's splendid new creation
[Unity (1918)] is a work of powerful and moving
familiarity, a kind of secular liturgy that celebrates love, sex,
death and the sorrowful mysteries of war and plague. It's also
painfully funny." — Globe & Mail
"Unity (1918) is
written with an assuredness that easily mixes profundity with hearty
laughs … Kerr shows a gift for creating genuinely ordinary people
who can expand on great thoughts even as they trip over their own
flaws." — Vancouver Sun
"The script finds considerable
humor in these dark days." — New York Times
"In Kerr's beautifully written
and often very funny play … the story is told of ordinary people
united and transformed in facing the fear of the unknown." —
Calgary Herald
"The play is a hard go, but
worth it for the stellar writing and mesmerizing horror of being
exposed to this under-told chapter in our history." —
Saskatoon Star Phoenix
About the Playwright:
Kevin Kerr is an award-winning playwright, director, actor,
and founding member of Vancouver's Electric Company Theatre. While he
was Writer in Residence at Touchstone Theatre, he developed Unity
(1918), which earned him the Governor General's Literary Award
for Drama. He is the recipient of three Jessie Richardson Awards for
Outstanding Original Play, and his work has been produced across
Canada, in the U.S., France, Australia, and the U.K.
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