Shoreline

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

The New Brunswick roots of Don Hannah, whose plays include The Wedding
Script, In the Lobster Capital of the World, and The Wooden Hill,
manifest themselves in all three plays in this collection, but there is
a universality of appeal in his treatment of themes that transcend any
specific location or social milieu. Hope and despair, generosity and
cruelty, and understanding and incomprehension are seminal motifs in
these plays, which explore that most basic and complicated of emotional
territories—the family.

Rubber Dolly tells the story of a young runaway teenager who is
confused about her roots and whose desperation as an illiterate,
unemployed, and abused single mother is stunningly juxtaposed with the
innocence and fantasy of a gentle and loving childhood. Father and Sons
is a tender, funny, and lyrical examination of a father–son
relationship. Running Far Back maps the relationship between a brother
and sister over 30 years as they journey from violence and anger toward
forgiveness and hope; underlying this passionate piece is an
understanding of the tensions between New Brunswick’s anglophone and
francophone communities. The characters in these powerful plays linger
in the memory for a very long time.