ann marie macdonald fall on your knees summary

It is this evocation of location, and the paradoxically captivating blend of beauty and peril that the stage version does not yet capture. Part of what makes the book so compelling is how much imagination, music and love are woven into this story of transgression and taboo, and how skilfully MacDonald evokes the ways in which a repressive environment - Catholicism figures prominently - leads to warped perceptions and begets self-deception, lies and cruelty masquerading as charity. Rereading the novel in preparation to see the show, I was struck - maybe even shocked - by how profoundly dark it is, structured as an unlocking of traumatic memories of sexual violence.

Like so many, I was overwhelmed by MacDonald’s book when I first read it two decades ago: its portrait of early 20th-century Cape Breton brilliantly creates a sense of place - a craggy, moody physical landscape with a surprisingly culturally diverse population, as a young man of Celtic descent marries a Lebanese girl (a plot line that mirrors MacDonald’s own heritage) and their stories intertwine with the Black community. This world premiere at the Bluma Appel Theatre will be followed by runs in Halifax, Ottawa and London, Ont., and it’s likely that the company will find more levels and nuances in the material during this two-month tour. Without this, the show is stolid and episodic, only taking flight in its final hours as its fragmented family story comes together, vivacious musical numbers led by Janelle Cooper take centre stage and powerful emotion is released. Something crucial is missing from the mix, though: an overriding theatrical concept to translate the brilliantly literary quality of MacDonald’s work to the stage. The work of some of the country’s finest theatre artists and craftspeople has gone into it, and the talent and downright stamina of the 14-person cast and four musicians through the six hours of playing time is inspiring and humbling (I saw the two parts of the show on successive nights both parts are played in sequence on Saturdays). Ten years in the making, it’s one of the most ambitious and hotly awaited theatre events in recent Canadian history: the adaptation of Ann-Marie MacDonald’s beloved 1996 novel into an epic two-part play.

Adapted by Alisa Palmer and Hannah Moscovitch from the novel by Ann-Marie MacDonald.

Ann marie macdonald fall on your knees summary