TNL's GMTF 2009 to feature entire David French Mercer Family Saga
Theatre Newfoundland Labrador is about to do something that has never been done before in the history of Canadian Theatre. This summer the Gros Morne Theatre Festival will present all five of David French's Mercer Family plays beginning with "Soldier's Heart" set in 1924 through to "Of the Fields, Lately" set in the early 1960s.
"It's never been done and TNL is extremely pleased to do it", said Artistic Director Jeff Pitcher. "It's the 60th anniversary of Newfoundland joining Canada and I believe this is an exciting way to observe the anniversary. It's not so much a celebration of the day we joined Canada but an observation of what the event did to our people and I believe French reveals the consequences beautifully through the characters of Jacob and Mary Mercer, their two sons and many of their extended family".
David French, born in Coley's Point, Newfoundland is one of Canada's most popular and critically-acclaimed playwrights. Among his best known works are the semi-autobiographical Mercer plays: "Salt-Water Moon", "Soldier's Heart", "1949", "Leaving Home" and "Of the Fields, Lately." "Leaving Home" was named one of the 100 Most Influential Books (Literary Review of Canada) and one of the 1,000 Most Essential Plays in the English Language (Oxford Dictionary of Theatre).
The Mercer Family saga begins with "Soldier's Heart" set on a railway platform in 1924 in Bay Robert's, Newfoundland as Esau Mercer, recently returned from World War I, attempts to persuade his son Jacob not leave home. Slowly Esau's devastating and unsparing account of what secrets lay in his soldier's heart bring father and son together. In "Salt-Water Moon," French's most popular play and winner of the Chalmers Award for Best New Canadian Play, it's a warm night in August, 1926 as the story focuses on Mary, a fierce teenager with "steel in her heart", as Jacob Mercer returns to Bay Roberts to steal her back from her boring schoolteacher fiancé. In "1949" the saga continues, and we find Jacob and Mary married and moved to Toronto. The play deals with the emotional and political decisions that the characters must come to as Newfoundland joins Confederation on April fool's Day in 1949. The fourth play, "Leaving Home", is a classic in Canadian drama that continues the story of the family that has emigrated from Newfoundland to Canada and poignantly tells the story of Jacob and Mary's two sons Bill and Ben as they come of age and attempt leave the family home. The final installment is "Of the Fields, Lately" which is set in the 1960s when son, Ben, returns home after an absence of two years to find his mother and family friend Wiff trying to sustain his father, Jacob, after a heart attack has forced him out of work.
"The five Mercer plays have never been performed together before and I'm thrilled and delighted that Theatre Newfoundland Labrador is doing them all in rep this summer", stated David French from his home in Toronto.
"The wonderful thing about these five plays is the sense of continuity within the Mercer Family. It's almost like a continuing soap opera", said Pitcher. "The plays, while always independently produced, they certainly were not independently written. To keep the continuity strong, I'm choosing to treat the whole 5 play cycle as a single 5 act play. Wherever possible, the same actor will play the same character from one play to the next. All interior designs will have one set designer and one costume designer and one lighting designer. We have to feel that we are in the same story no matter what play we're watching", said Pitcher as he sits poring over early drawings of set designs by Derek Butt. "That being said, each play is very independent of each other - you certainly don't have to see one to understand the other. All plays were written separately and produced separately but I believe it will be an incredible theatrical and Newfoundland experience to sit and watch all five plays over a three or four day period", he added.
The Gros Morne Theatre Festival is entering its 14th year and has grown to be one of the most important theatre seasons in eastern Canada. Nestled at the base of the Long Range Mountains in Gros Morne National Park and on the shores of Shallow Bay in Cow Head the Festival is home to two 90 seat theatres that regularly play to sold out houses. Last year the Festival welcomed their 100,000th patron and they are expecting over 12,000 audience members this summer. Also playing during the 2009 season, and back by popular demand, will be their ever-popular dinner theatre "SS Ethie" and "Neddy Norris Night", an entertaining musical and comic "time."
