A View from the Roof

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

Dave Carley’s plays have been produced across North America and around
the world on stage, radio, and television. A View from the Roof was
first produced at Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre in 1996.

Spanning a 60-year period, the play, which progresses backward in time,
pieces together the story of a young woman who flees Germany in 1938
with her erstwhile lover. Recalling The Glass Menagerie in its treatment
of the themes of regret and loss, A View from the Roof features richly
and sympathetically drawn characters and many moments of deep insight
and engaging humor. Above all, Carley is a masterful storyteller.

While the play itself is splendid, no biographical or background
information accompanies it. Particularly frustrating is the lack of
information about Helen Weinzweig, on whose stories this play was based.