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Calpurnia

Calpurnia

By Audrey Dwyer
Subjects: Women Writers, Prairie Playwrights, Manitoba, Family Life, Political Theatre, 2SLGBT / Queer Theatre, Black Playwrights
Casting: 3 f, 3 m
Imprint: Playwrights Canada Press
Paperback : 9780369104311, 160 pages, May 2023
Ebook (EPUB) : 9780369104335, 250 pages, May 2023
Ebook (PDF) : 9780369104328, 250 pages, May 2023

Description

Julie, a young Jamaican Canadian screenwriter, is passionately working on an adaptation of one of the most beloved American novels of all time, To Kill a Mockingbird, telling the story from the perspective of the Finch family’s Black maid, Calpurnia. But within the safe confines of her wealthy father’s home, and besides all the encouragement from their Filipina housekeeper Precy, Julie struggles with writer’s block and numerous distractions as her family prepares for an important dinner party. When her brother challenges her, saying she’s appropriating a culture she doesn’t belong to, she goes to dramatic lengths to prove her point, only to find she has much to learn.

Calpurnia is a witty and highly charged look at the complicated entanglements of intersectionality and allyship, exposing motives and biases that are clear as a bell one moment, and drowning in ambiguity the next.

Reviews

Calpurnia is one of those stories that is deeply nuanced and provides much fodder for discussion and debate. It is eye-opening and reveals much about prejudices and ingrained privilege that, in some way, exists in everyone.”

- Samantha Wu, Mooney on Theatre

"Audrey expertly calibrates the humour and debate in Calpurnia to explore the complexities of race and privilege in a surprisingly playful and honest way that kept me on my toes throughout."

- Lisa Codrington, author of The Adventures of the Black Girl in Her Search for God & Up the Garden Path and Cast Iron

Calpurnia is a romp of a play with a biting commentary on race, class, and privilege. I remember seeing it during its premiere run in a packed house at Buddies in Bad Times Theatre. But moreover, I remember the conversations, reverberations, and discoveries in the days and weeks well after I had left the theatre. In the context of Canadian theatre, I think it is a milestone in the canon that is not only contemporary and challenging but fearless and hilarious too.”

- Marie Beath Badian, author of The Making of St. Jerome and Prairie Nurse

“It’s insightful, hilarious and thoroughly on target in exploring questions of race, privilege and allyship that have become part of the public discourse in recent years.”

- Lynn Saxberg, Ottawa Citizen

"How is it possible that a single play can simultaneously make you cheer and cringe? Calpurnia is an unforgettable masterpiece crafted by a playwright in her element. Dwyer paints each character into a corner where they are forced to face the most difficult conversations with each other, and, more importantly, with themselves."

- Catherine Hernandez, award-winning author of Scarborough the novel and screenwriter of Scarborough the film