Homeward Bound

Ian C. Nelson is assistant director of libraries at the University of
Saskatchewan and director of La Troupe du Jour, Regina Summer Stage.

When it was first produced at the Stratford Festival in 1991, Homeward
Bound was called everything from “modest” and “well-written” to
“clever,” “shattering,” and “one of the season’s best.” In
the introduction, Margaret Atwood (!) calls it a “comedy of manners
... with a difference.” It would certainly seem to be a comedy of
situation and character written by a rather self-consciously cunning
linguist. Stylistically it is marked by modern periods of silence,
pauses, and short pauses. But its pre-eminent characteristic is the
unfinished or interrupted sentence а la Sandy Dennis, the net result of
which is a breakneck comic race. The effect is so sure-fire and so
cleverly contemporary in its wide liberal attitudes that it is enough to
make any director or actor rush out to find the next production to
become involved in.

The play is a thorough romp of a read too, with just enough substance
to give it a veneer of social relevance. Subjects include euthanasia,
child molestation, paternity, homosexual lifestyles, sibling rivalry,
alcoholism, and 12-step recovery. No one seems to notice, however, that
while giving the audience full decibels of cognitive dissonance, all of
the characters really sound very much alike, each vying for attention:
“God forbid that the focus of any conversation should go off you for
two minutes.” Great dialogue, lots of laughs, and some impertinent
attitudes.