Synopses & Reviews
According to Newfoundlands first premier, Joey Smallwood, the province was dragged kicking and screaming into the twentieth century” by ambitious government resettlement plans to depopulate small fishing outports. Through a kind of carrot-and-stick approach, communities were encouraged to abandon themselves in exchange for financial aid and the promise of better services in centralized growth towns.” More than thirty thousand Newfoundlanders relocated under this plan between 1954 and 1975.
Set in a one-room schoolhouse during the decisive evening of a communitys vote on whether to stay or leave, Whereverville is an intriguing reversal of and homage to Bertolt Brechts The Caucasian Chalk Circle. Whereas in Brechts play the conclusion of the conflict over a community is that those best able to take care of the land should possess it,” in MacDonalds play, it is that those no longer able to take care of the land should leave it.”
In both plays, it is the heart and mind of a young woman bereft of her future on which the action turns. It is Loam Bays schoolteacher, Abby Shea, herself from away,” who holds the deciding vote as she struggles with her own phantom attachment to the community, its citizens, and its ghosts of times past, and it is she who must learn that sometimes, in order to keep what we hold most dear, we must give it awaythat nothing lasts.”
Review
Whereverville is highly engaging.”
The Royal National Theatre, London, United Kingdom
[Whereverville is] emotional, poetic, humorous and character-rich.”
Halifax Mail Star
An intelligent playwright with a love of humanity, MacDonald has a gift
”
Halifax Chronicle Herald
Appearances are deceptive [in Whereverville], no less in the plays form than in its plotting. A well-crafted and multilayered script.”
University of Toronto Quarterly
Josh MacDonald is one of Nova Scotias theatrical young Turks
crafting highly compelling theatre that cuts close to the bone.”
Globe and Mail
Synopsis
Dragging Newfoundland "kicking and screaming into the 20th century" (a quote attributed to Joey Smallwood), resettlement was a carrot-and-stick approach to depopulating the province's fishing outports. Communities were encouraged to abandon themselves in exchange for financial aid and the promise of better services in centralized "growth" towns. Between 1954 and 1975, the Federal and Provincial governments brought about the move of more than 300 communities and 30,000 people. First and foremost, Whereverville is a work of fiction and its setting, the imaginary community of Loam Bay, does not appear on any map--tellingly, however, neither do many of the 300 communities by which this play was inspired.
Set in a one-room school house during the decisive evening of the community's vote on whether to stay or leave, Josh MacDonald's play is an intriguing reversal of and homage to Bertolt Brecht's The Caucasian Chalk Circle. While in Brecht's play, the conclusion of the conflict over a community is that "those best able to take care of the land should possess it," in Whereverville the conclusion is that "those no longer able to take care of the land should leave it."
In both plays, it is the heart and mind of a young woman bereft of her future on which the action turns. It is Loam Bay's schoolteacher, Abby Shea, herself "from away," who holds the deciding vote as she struggles with her own phantom attachment to the community, its citizens, and its ghosts of times past, and it is she who must learn that sometimes, in order to keep what we hold most dear, we must give it away--that "nothing lasts."
Synopsis
A schoolteacher "from away” struggles with attachment to a community slated for resettlement. Cast of 4 men and 3 women.
About the Author
Josh MacDonaldJosh MacDonald is a writer and actor living in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. His first play, Halo, has toured throughout Canada and is Two Planks and a Passion Theatre Company's largest box-office success to date. MacDonalds latest play, Whereverville, also produced by Two Planks, went on a national tour in the 2004-2005 season. His comedy-drama feature film Faith, Fraud and Minimum Wage was released in theatres by Seville Pictures/Entertainment One in October 2010.