Pearl Gidley

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By (author): Gary Kirkham

The elderly Gidley sisters lead unassuming and unexciting lives in Blyth, Ontario in 1971. Tart-tongued Pearl and the more romantically-minded Edith live frugally, renting a room to the occasional boarder to help make ends meet. But the sisters’ orderly life is turned upside-down when their neighbour George asks them to take in Charles, a young American Vietnam veteran.

The characters in this beautifully-written, bittersweet comedy gently draw out one another’s stories: and along the way must come to terms with loyalty and betrayal, long-ago heartbreak, the consequences of sacrifice, and the power of music.

AUTHOR

Gary Kirkham

Gary Kirkham is a playwright and actor based in Cambridge, Ontario. In addition to Falling A:Wake, his writing credits include Pearl Gidley (Scirocco Drama, 2012,) Queen Milli of Gault (Winner of the SF Canadian Playwriting Award,) Pocket Rocket (with Lea Daniel) as a collaborator, The Last 15 Seconds, Body 13, Occupy Spring, and Seasons of Immigration with the MT Space, and Radio Leacock with Lost & Found Theatre. He also authored an adaptation of Easter by August Strindberg. GaryÕs plays have been staged in Canada, the United States, and the Middle East. He was the Blyth FestivalÕs Playwright in Residence in 2008.

Reviews

“Pearl Gidley is a modest play. But it is modest in the way Carol Shields’ novels are modest, Alice Munro’s and Ernest Hemingway’s short stories are modest or Anton Chekhov’s plays are modest.” – The Waterloo Record

“The audience gave this play a standing ovation, and for good reason: the play touches the heart.” – The Globe and Mail