Up the Garden Path

Courtesy of the PCLN

Written by:

Lisa Codrington

Artist/Creator(s) Identify As:

Black

Cast Size:

Roles For:

Men: 3
People of Colour: 3
Women: 4

Genre:

Black Theatre
Comedy
Drama
Historical

Themes:

Canadian History
Cross-Dressing
Immigration
Ontario
Race
Work

Length:

120 min.

Year Written:

2016

Synopsis:

“In Up the Garden Path, a young Barbadian seamstress is coerced into posing as her half-brother to go to the Niagara region in Ontario and work on a vineyard. There, she meets an aspiring actress obsessed with Joan of Arc, the ghost of a Black Loyalist soldier who wants to die, and a boss who can’t keep the starlings away from his failing vineyard. Finding it impossible to ignore their demands, but not wanting to be found out and sent home, Rosa has to stop and figure out what she really wants instead of what everyone around her needs.” (From the PLCN Website)

Characters:

ALMA – (b. 1933) Edmund’s mother, Amelia’s sister and Sticky’s widow. She was once the prettiest and most outgoing but she hasn’t left her house since Hurricane Janet hit and
killed her husband in 1955.

AMELIA (Melia) – (b. 1935) Edmund’s aunt and Alma’s sister.

EDMUND (Edie) – (b. 1950) Alma and Sticky’s son, Amelia’s nephew and Rosa’s half-brother.

ROSA – (b. 1952) A seamstress, Edmund’s half sister and Sticky’s outside child he had with a Jamaican woman named Cutie.

RICHARD – (1744-1838) Loosely based on soldier Richard Pierpoint.

ISAAC – (b. 1948) A farmer, Laura’s older brother.

LAURA – (b. 1951) Isaac’s kid sister. She is an aspiring actor.

First Produced:

2016, Obsidian Theatre Company

Resources:

Up the Garden Path is available through the CPO Website.

To view other works by this playwright, click here.