Patches

David E. Kemp is head of the Drama Department at Queen’s University.

More is an actor, writer, and puppeteer whose plays include Nothing
Personal, Possibly Yours, The Shadow Stealer, and Dads in Bondage, a
full-length musical, widely performed in Canada, that won an award at
the 1990 Edinburgh Festival.

Patches tells the story of two women—one of Scottish ancestry, the
other of Ukrainian descent—who lead solitary lives in a rural Ontario
community. They meet through a mutual interest in patchwork quilting and
embroidery, and develop a deep friendship, a bond that allows them to
survive a period of intense personal crisis.

This play does more than simply evoke laughter and tears by examining
the hearts and minds of its two major characters. Running throughout is
the symbol of the patchwork quilt; its making by the protagonists
underlines the need to “patch” together the many pieces of personal
reality in order to give new meaning to an old tradition. In a sense,
the quilt is a life story that draws strongly on the values of the past,
and, by doing so, offers the characters a perspective that gives them
strength to face the future.