Written and directed by David Woods
Vicki Flemming, a beautiful, ‘married to wealth’ socialite suddenly returns to her family home in the rural Black community of Coleville, NS after a decade of living in Vancouver. Initially, her visit appears to be an attempt to reconnect to her community and family that she rejected as a young woman (Vicki considers herself White not Black). However, Vicki’s return is really a flight from personal turmoil precipitated by her rich lover’s infidelity and her inability to have children. Her visit quickly becomes destructive resurrecting ‘long buried’ family secrets (including her childhood rape) and unleashing a series of incidents that shatter the façade of both her and her sister’s lives. The play ends with ‘a reversal of roles’ when the now psychologically unhinged Vicki ‘appropriates’ Allee’s life (including ‘stealing’ her husband Aubrey and child and religion) as a way to re-connect to reality, while a broken Allee leaves the family home to seek the life of ‘a socialite’.
A contemporary drama about spiritual emptiness and damaged individuals hiding in projections of wealth, family, community, and even religion, but evading the truth of their own lives.
The Return uses absurdist techniques to bring out points about human personality and experiences. The play is an attempt to represent a more contemporary view of African Nova Scotian life…especially how individuals try to fit in with living in a big city (in this case Vancouver) and the alienation it creates from previous lifestyles. The Return is a comment on both past and contemporary issues through a wonderful insight into human behaviour.
Performance History
2017 Atlantic Fringe Festival
Awards/Achievements
2017 Atlantic Fringe Top Five of Festival Hit Award
