by David French
NARRATOR
And Dad … Well, after Daisy drowned, Dad hit rock bottom as hard as any man I’ve ever seen. It was Sally who talked him into AA. They’re quite a stuffy couple now, still living in Jericho, in the house with the cherry tree …
MRS. CRUMP appears in the yard.
As for Mrs. Crump, I keep a framed black-and-white photo of her from that summer, her eyes smiling beneath the brim of her straw hat, a twist of cigar smoke in the air. It sits on my mantelpiece in Burlington. And people who visit say, “Who’s that woman, Margaret? She looks so outrageous.” And I say, “That woman? Why, that woman is Mrs. Crump, of course. My hero.” I still can’t seem to call her Kathleen.
CAITLIN walks to MRS. CRUMP’s grave, sets down the roses.
NARRATOR
(recites again “That Summer” by Henry Treece, directing the first four lines to the audience, the rest to CAITLIN)
That year, snow came in April and again
In May, and the pony died in his harness;
But in summer, under the whitewashed trees,
A girl in a white dress gave me an apple.
I fitted my teeth in the marks her teeth
Had made; so we were one. Then dusk
Moved slowly among the trees like a blue
Smoke at night, and I cried that joy
Could come so easily, for then I knew
It must break with as little warning.
The NARRATOR and CAITLIN embrace, becoming part of the tableau.
Blackout.
Born in Coley’s Point, Newfoundland, David French was one of Canada’s best-known and most critically acclaimed playwrights. His work received many major awards, and French was one of the first inductees into the Newfoundland Arts Hall of Honour. He received the Queen’s Jubilee Medal and was presented with a Lifetime Membership in the Playwrights Guild of Canada. He was named an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2001.
Among his best-loved works are the semi-autobiographical Mercer plays: Salt-Water Moon; 1949; Leaving Home, recently named one of Canada’s 100 Most Influential Books (Literary Review of Canada) and one of the 1,000 Most Essential Plays in the English Language (Oxford Dictionary of Theatre); Of the Fields, Lately; and Soldier’s Heart. The Mercer plays have received hundreds of productions across North America, including an Of the Fields, Lately production on Broadway. This quintet of plays about a Newfoundland family has also touched audiences in Europe, South America, and Australia. In addition, French produced skillful adaptations of Alexander Ostrovsky’s The Forest, Anton Chekhov’s The Seagull, and August Strindberg’s Miss Julie.
ALSO BY DAVID FRENCH
Jitters*
Leaving Home
Miss Julie* (by August Strindberg, adaptation)
1949*
Of the Fields, Lately
One Crack Out*
The Riddle of the World*
Salt-Water Moon*
The Seagull* (by Anton Chekhov, translation)
Silver Dagger*
Soldier’s Heart*
*Available from Talonbooks
ABOUT TALONBOOKS
Thank you for purchasing and reading That Summer. If you came across this ebook by some other means, feel free to purchase it and support our hard work. It is available through most major online ebook retailers and on our website. The print edition is also available.
Talonbooks is a small, independent, Canadian book publishing company. We have been publishing works of the highest literary merit since the 1960s. With more than 500 books in print, we offer drama, poetry, fiction, and non-fiction by local playwrights, poets, and authors from the mainstream and margins of Canada’s three founding nations, as well as both visible and invisible minorities within Canada’s cultural mosaic. Learn more about us.
Copyright © 2000 David French
Talonbooks
P.O. Box 2076, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada V6B 3S3
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Typeset by Typesmith.
Electronic edition: June 2015
Talonbooks gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund, and the Province of British Columbia through the British Columbia Arts Council and the Book Publishing Tax Credit.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the publisher or a licence from the Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright). For a copyright licence, visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777.
Rights to produce That Summer in whole or in part, in any medium by any group, amateur or professional, are retained by the Estate of David French. Interested persons are requested to contact Charles Northcote, Literary Agent, 140 Wolfrey Avenue, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4K 1L3; e-mail: [email protected]; tel.: 416-466-4929.
Cataloguing data available from Library and Archives Canada
ISBN-13: 978-0-88922-969-3