Papers

David E. Kemp is a drama professor at Queen’s University and the
author of The Pleasures and Treasures of the United Kingdom.

Allan Stratton is one of Canada’s best known playwrights. Nurse Jane goes to Hawaii, probably his best known play, has had over 100 productions from the Yukon to New York, while Rexy won Chalmers and Dora Mayor Moore Awards for Best Canadian Play in 1981, and the 1982 Canadian Authors’ Association Award (also for best play). His other plays include 72 under the 0, Juggers, and Friends of a Feather, an adaptation of Célimare by Eugene Labiche.

Papers isa witty, intelligent, and compassionate look at love. It deals with two lonely and articulate would-be lovers struggling with their inability to communicate with each other. The play gains added resonance through the fact that this ill-starred pair are a female university professor and a male novelist, people we might reasonably think would have some experience in the realm of communication.

Papers isboth funny and perceptive. Packed with crisply witty lines which allow a belly laugh response, Stratton, experienced playwright that he is, balances his more obvious comic style with savage thrusts at academia and a love and compassion for the characters he so skillfully delineates. That Papers is both a moving love story and an uproarious comedy, bodes well for the commercial success of this most engaging play.