Factory to Present SALT-WATER MOON by David French, Directed by Ravi Jain
By: Tyler Peterson Jan. 13, 2016
"With just two actors and only a few physical elements, the audience will be transported to the place of David French's timeless tale; Newfoundland under a star-filled sky," explains director Ravi Jain.
It's 1926, the First World War is over, and every day the villages of Newfoundland are being abandoned by their young for a new life in the big city. But eighteen year-old Jacob Mercer has come home to Coley's Point, from Toronto, to win back his former sweetheart Mary Snow, who he abruptly left over a year ago. By the light of a moon-filled night, the former lovers meet to confront their past choices and contemplate a possible future together.
SALT-WATER MOON is David French's best known and most successful of the Mercer plays. It was an immediate hit when it premiered at Tarragon Theatre in 1984, and continues to be produced around the world. SALT-WATER MOON is the recipient of the 1985 Canadian Authors Association Literary Award for Drama, the Dora Mavor Moore Award for Outstanding New Play, a Hollywood Drama-Logue Critics' Award, and was a finalist for both the Chalmers Awards and the Governor-General's Award for Drama.
David French (1939-2010) is one of Canada's most celebrated playwrights, and one of the first to write distinctly Canadian stories. Born in the outport of Coley's Point, Newfoundland, French was inducted into the Newfoundland Arts of Honour in 1981 and was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2001. Among his works are the semi-autobiographical Mercer plays: Leaving Home, Of The Fields, Lately, Salt-Water Moon, 1949, and Soldier's Heart. This quintet of plays has also touched audiences across Canada and in the U.S., Europe, South America, and Australia. French's other works include the smash-hit backstage comedy Jitters, the thriller Silver Dagger, and an adaptation of Strindberg's Miss Julie.
Ravi Jain is a multi-award-winning actor, director, producer, educator, arts-activist and Artistic Director of Why Not Theatre. Most recently, Why Not collaborated with The Theatre Centre to produce The November Ticket, a trilogy of award-winning controversial plays including WE ARE PROUD TO PRESENT . . . by Jackie Sibblies Drury, which he directed. His acting credits include the Dora Award-winning SPENT (Theatre Smith-Gilmour/Why Not Theatre/TheatreRUN) and A Brimful of Asha (Why Not Theatre/Tarragon). Select directing credits for Why Not include The Prince Hamlet, I'm So Close, A Brimful of Asha, Greenland (winner of NOW Audience Choice Award and Best Production SummerWorks '09), and Iceland (winner of NOW Audience Choice Award and Best New Play SummerWorks '12).
SALT-WATER MOON features performances by Dora Award-winner and star of Factory's critically acclaimed BOMBAY BLACK, Kawa Ada (Accidental Death of an Anarchist/Soulpepper Theatre; Paper SERIES/Cahoots Theatre; Lilies, Wonderful Town/Red Peppers/Shadowplay; After the Dance, Sunday in the Park with George /Shaw Festival; and Bombay Dreams/Broadway) as Jacob Mercer; and Gemini-nominated actress Mayko Nguyen (Helen Lawrence/Canadian Stage; Passion Play/Convergence Theatre/Sheep No Wool/Outside the March; carried away on the crest of a wave/Tarragon Theatre; and tv credits Slasher/ Chiller TV, Killjoys/Space Channel, Cracked and Bloodletting & Miraculous Cures/CBC TV) as Mary Snow.
Stripped down to the most fundamental and striking elements, the Naked Season pares down theatre to a series of pure encounters between the audience, the actors, and the text. SALT-WATER MOON is presented as part of a seasonette that also includes: A LINE IN THE SAND, written by Guillermo Verdecchia and Marcus Youssef and directed by Nigel Shawn Williams, March 8 - 27 in the Studio Theatre; and THE CRACKWALKER, written and directed by Judith Thompson, March 22 - April 10 in the Mainspace Theatre.
"Naked is about going to the roots of storytelling, it's imagining the story with limitless possibilities." Ravi Jain
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