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That Summer
It’s Memorial Day, 1990, and Margaret Ryan has returned from Vermont to the Ontario cottage country where, thirty-two years before, she had vacationed with her disintegrating family at a lakeside resort. For herself and her sister Daisy, it was a time of awakening, a time of discovery.
Both of the girls fall in love with two of the local boys. Daisy, on the lookout for action, cruising the dances at the resort, can’t deal with what she initiates, and falls victim to her own confusion and naiveté. Not even the neighbour, the eccentric, bourbon-drinking, cigar-smoking Mrs. Crump, who knows all the fairy-tale spells to capture the heart of a lover, can save Daisy from drowning in her own misadventure.
At the same time, Margaret, bookish and withdrawn, inhabiting a universe defined by poets and novelists, is seduced in spite of herself.
As Margaret, the narrator, watches Maggie, her younger self, relive the innocence and beauty of that summer, the play moves inexorably back to the heartbreak of a headlong surrender to experience, both won and lost in a single day.
Cinematic in its feel and pacing, recalling the 1950s genre of Dirty Dancing and My American Cousin, That Summer is a meditation on what endures of fleeting moments over time.
Cast of 5 women and 2 men.
Both of the girls fall in love with two of the local boys. Daisy, on the lookout for action, cruising the dances at the resort, can’t deal with what she initiates, and falls victim to her own confusion and naiveté. Not even the neighbour, the eccentric, bourbon-drinking, cigar-smoking Mrs. Crump, who knows all the fairy-tale spells to capture the heart of a lover, can save Daisy from drowning in her own misadventure.
At the same time, Margaret, bookish and withdrawn, inhabiting a universe defined by poets and novelists, is seduced in spite of herself.
As Margaret, the narrator, watches Maggie, her younger self, relive the innocence and beauty of that summer, the play moves inexorably back to the heartbreak of a headlong surrender to experience, both won and lost in a single day.
Cinematic in its feel and pacing, recalling the 1950s genre of Dirty Dancing and My American Cousin, That Summer is a meditation on what endures of fleeting moments over time.
Cast of 5 women and 2 men.
- GenresPlays
128 pages, Paperback
First published March 1, 2001
2 people want to read
About the author
David Benson French
14 books1 followerDavid Benson French, OC was a Canadian playwright, most noted for his "Mercer Plays" series.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
January 2, 2017
2. That Summer by David French
A sad and almost haunting play, that mixes time, but is never confusing. In 1990, Margaret returns to an Ontario cottage on Wolf Lake where she and her sister, Daisy, spent a summer in 1958. When their father, Jack, goes back to Vermont to try to reconcile with his new wife, the girls are left with in the care of Mrs. Crump, an eccentric widow in the next cottage. Daisy is flirting with the local minister’s son, but Maggie is above all that, until she meets the local bad boy, Paul, and falls hard. But Jack comes back and tells them that they have to leave immediately, and the last night becomes a tragedy. The dialogue in both the past and present sections is excellent. While Jack does not seem to be a sympathetic character, he is trying to hold his marriage and his family together. David French loves to set scenes in summer full moons but this one ends badly.
A sad and almost haunting play, that mixes time, but is never confusing. In 1990, Margaret returns to an Ontario cottage on Wolf Lake where she and her sister, Daisy, spent a summer in 1958. When their father, Jack, goes back to Vermont to try to reconcile with his new wife, the girls are left with in the care of Mrs. Crump, an eccentric widow in the next cottage. Daisy is flirting with the local minister’s son, but Maggie is above all that, until she meets the local bad boy, Paul, and falls hard. But Jack comes back and tells them that they have to leave immediately, and the last night becomes a tragedy. The dialogue in both the past and present sections is excellent. While Jack does not seem to be a sympathetic character, he is trying to hold his marriage and his family together. David French loves to set scenes in summer full moons but this one ends badly.
Displaying 1 of 1 review