Courtesy of Scirocco Drama“Thinking that Ruth’s frequent request to “go to the water” is a longing to return to her happy youth, Peg has brought her ailing mother to Nova Scotia. Peg sees the old house by the sea as refuge, a place to begin again with 14-year-old Zoe. However, when Ruth enters the house the women who once inhabited it play out their stories. In the end of Three Storey, Ocean View, Ruth chooses grace over pain thereby offering Peg and Zoe a small beginning.” (From the CPO Website)
Peg – 45 – so weary but still trying
Ruth – 61 – Peg’s mother, suffers from dementia
Zoe – 14 – Peg’s daughter, determinedly out of control
Bonnie – 39 – obese
Cindy – 13 – Bonnie’s daughter, black heritage, self-conscious
Tommy – 12 – offstage only, mouthy
Sheri – 23 – the bride
David – 35 – Acadian, the groom
Beulah – 45 – Sheri’s former mother-in-law
Lud – 53 – stroke victim
Carol – 50 – Lud’s wife of 32 years
Marsha – 17 – drop out, home from the city
Enid – 61 – Ruth’s childhood friend, she has lived next to this house all her life and appears in all of the stories. In the 60s, she is 38. In the 70s, 45. In the 80s, she is 53.
2000, Mulgrave Road Theatre
Three Storey, Ocean View is available through the CPO Website.
For more information about the playwright and her work, visit the CWPO collection.
To view other works by this playwright, click here.
du Maurier National Play Competition Silver Medal
Collette's Picks
“The sand is washed away exposing the rocks. I look out my window now and all I see is rocks.” Banks’ play combines one-liner banter, along with poetic monologues and magic realism to transport the audience inside the mind of Ruth, who is struggling to communicate with her family about the ghosts she sees and hears in her hometown. Banks’ is an expert at slowly revealing layer after layer of intergenerational family secrets and trauma, keeping audiences on the edge of their seats. - Collette