Synopses & Reviews
Theres no way we shoulda been arrested for sabotaging the war effort
trying to organize a strike
But if you really wanted to arrest somebody, you could go
down to the British Munitions Factory and charge them
with murder
cuz thats what it was. Making us work
all these long, crazy hours was bound to kill somebody.
From the renowned author of Balconville, this powerful drama gives a voice to the disillusioned working-class women employed at the British Munitions Factory in Verdun, Quebec, during the First World War. Following in the trudging footsteps of Fennarios anti-war protest play Bolsheviki (Talonbooks, 2012), Motherhouse similarly debunks the sentimental notions of duty, heroism, and nationhood that figured so prominently in Canadian war effort campaigns and that persist in Canadian history textbooks today.
In 1915, with tensions running high across the country over conscription and linguistic and religious issues, dedicated mothers, wives, sisters, and sweethearts assemble artillery shells to support the war effort and inadvertently find themselves called together to bring about change both in their working conditions and in their personal lives. Meanwhile, their beloved soldiers die on battlefields overseas while their children starve at home as prices rise because of war profiteering. Verduns munitions manufacturer employed more than four thousand women during the war, including Fennarios mother. Tragically, the city of Verdun sacrificed more soldiers to both World Wars than any other place in Canada.
Cast of 1 woman.
Synopsis
A spirited and moving tribute to women working in the arms industry. Truth emerges from the darkness of war.
Synopsis
From the renowned author of Balconville, this powerful drama gives a voice to the disillusioned working-class women employed at the British Munitions Factory in Verdun, Quebec, during the First World War. Following in the trudging footsteps of Fennario's anti-war protest play Bolsheviki (Talonbooks, 2012), Motherhouse similarly debunks the sentimental notions of duty, heroism, and nationhood that figured so prominently in Canadian war effort campaigns and that persist in Canadian history textbooks today.
In 1915, with tensions running high across the country over conscription and linguistic and religious issues, dedicated mothers, wives, sisters, and sweethearts assemble artillery shells to support the war effort and inadvertently find themselves assembled to bring about change both in their working conditions and in their personal lives. Meanwhile, their beloved soldiers die on battlefields overseas while their children starve at home because of war profiteering. Verdun's munitions manufacturer employed more than four thousand women during the war, including Fennario's mother. Tragically, the city of Verdun sacrificed more soldiers to both World Wars than any other place in Canada.
Synopsis
"When a final analysis is made of twentieth-century Canadian theater, the most significant political playwright will undoubtedly be David Fennario."—Canadian Book Review
This powerful drama gives a voice to the disillusioned working-class women employed at the British Munitions Factory in Verdun, Quebec, during World War I. Despite tension over conscription, dedicated mothers, wives, sisters, and sweethearts assemble artillery shells to support the war effort. Meanwhile, their beloved soldiers die abroad and their children starve at home because of war profiteers.
David Fennario is an award-winning playwright and performer whose plays have been widely produced as well as televised on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
About the Author
David Fennario is a Montreal playwright and performer. Four of his plays have won awards.
On the Job won the Chalmers Award in 1976;
Balconville won the Chalmers Award in 1980;
Joe Beef won the Prix Pauline-Julien in 1986; and
Death of René Lévesque won the Montreal Gazette Play of the Year in 2003.
Three of his plays have been televised on CBC, and he has been profiled as an artist by the National Film Board and by Bravo TV.
Fennario has taught courses, seminars, and workshops in playwriting and performance at educational institutions across Canada, including McGill, Concordia, Toronto, and Simon Fraser Universities.
He is a former weekly columnist for the Montreal Gazette and has had articles published in the Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, Le Devoir, and La Presse.
Well known as a social activist, Fennario was the 2007 candidate for Québec solidaire in the community of Vielle Verdun, where he was born and still resides.