All Fall Down

Judith Rudakoff is an associate professor of theatre arts at York
University at the co-editor of Dangerous Traditions: A Passe Muraille
Anthology.

This stark and suspenseful drama focuses on the nature of justice, human
interaction, trust, and loyalty. In a quiet Nova Scotia town, a popular
day-care worker is accused of child abuse. The children in Lill’s play
are angry—whether at being molested or at the dogged determination of
the adults in their lives to “help” them remember damning incidents
and horrific abuses is never resolved. What saves All Fall Down from
sensationalism is its integrity. Lill moves past events, imaginings, and
allegations to construct a harrowing vision of life without safeguards.
She gradually builds her characters into multifaceted beings faced with
unanswerable questions when their small-town complacency and
self-righteousness is shattered.