Drawer Boy

by Michael Healey

A young actor from the big city lives with two aging bachelor farmers to gather stories about rural life. The farmersâ lives are irrevocably altered when art attempts to imitate life and the line between truth and fiction is crossed.

Winner of the 1999 Governor Generalâ s Literary Award for Drama

Genres: Plays, Theatre, Read For School, Contemporary, Drama

60 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1999

Reviews

[Conner Lowes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very quick play. Sad. Sweet. Interesting. Excellent use for the classroom, and good for anyone interested in the brain.

[Ellen Hamilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

A little confusing at first, but once you get into it, it's very impacting. The end revealed a touching, tragic, heart-rending story, and I feel like I want to see a video of the actual play, if it's available.

There was a lot of humour too. Especially the way the city boy is fooled (at first) by the ridiculous theories and chores that Morgan can think up for him. Worried cows because they know that if they don't produce enough milk they'll become meat! Exchanging eggs between hens so that they don't mind when you actually take them away! Sifting through gravel and washing each one separately! Digging out undigested grain in manure with an eating fork! Replanting fields so that the hay gets an equal share of the sun!!! Come on! 😂

[Lucile Barker · Rating 5 out of 5]

12. Drawer Bay by Michael Healey
This play is funny and sad as all get out, but there are a few tear-jerking moments. This is a re-read and I had forgotten how good it is. This two act, three actor play is set in Huron County in 1972, near a barn theatre in Clinton, just when The Farm show was being developed. Miles, a young city actor, comes to stay at the farm of Morgan and Angus, two elderly bachelor World War II veterans. Morgan cares for Angus, who has brain damage and needs constant reassurance. Miles is there to research their lives and write a play. But Morgan's stories to Angus are not the truth and Miles rewriting of them upsets the balance of the farm.

[Marc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Enjoyed reading the play because I saw this production with this cast when it played here years ago. Having worked with the late Jerry Franken (who played Morgan) and being familiar with David Fox's work, having met him a few times at theatre openings, reading it brought back their performances. I could hear their voices as I read the play. The play is quite funny and heart-breaking as well. I am curious to read Michael Healey's other plays. This was my first exposure to his talent.

[Elizabeth Friesen · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Drawer Boy, by Michael Healey, is an outstanding play. I can understand why it's won so many awards! It's beautifully written: simple and straightforward, touching and sentimental, without being maudlin. The poignant moments are offset by moments of hilarity. As an actor and playwright, this play has given me a new perspective on my craft. I was deeply affected and won't be able to let this one go easily, if at all. Highly recommended!

[Daphne · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this! If I heard a synopsis of this, I would have told you that it sounded awful. Not much happens in this very short play, but I really liked it! I thought it was funny, despite half the play being devoted to making sandwiches. This isn't a popular play, but if a production came into town, I would definitely see it.

[Scout Collins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read in May 2019 for my Grade 12 English class

I'd already seen the play which was enjoyable. Well-written script

[Heather Ingram · Rating 4 out of 5]

I saw this staged in Theatre Passe Muraille in the late 90s. I cried. I found the script at Word on the Street years later. It still makes me cry. Beautiful play.

[Joti · Rating 5 out of 5]

WOW. Just wow.
Morgan & Angus are farmers & Angus' memory is faulty. Miles, a young playwright, comes to learn about the farm & write a play. One night, he overhears Morgan telling Angus their story; the story of two boys, a draw (Angus) & a farmer (Morgan) & how they went to the war & found these 2 girls they loved, Sally (for Angus) & Frances (for Morgan) & they had a double wedding & one day, their wives died in a car accident - Miles overhears & takes this material for his play, meaning for it to be a surprise - when Angus & Morgan see the dress rehearsal, Angus really enjoys it & even starts remembering things & Morgan's furious - Miles sticks around & tells Angus all these stories - particularly, of Hamlet (all that madness stuff), & of characters he's played & Angus wants to see the graveyard where Sally & Frances are & Morgan refuses & Angus just goes off by himself that night - Morgan's worried & Miles & he finally have a confrontation & Miles says the reason Morgan won't take Angus to the graveyard is because what he told Angus isn't true & Angus overhears & demands to know the truth - but he also starts mixing up Miles & Morgan & the stories Miles told him & his real life story with the stage one - this awful blurring of reality & fiction & the past & the present - then Miles & Morgan tell the real story together & Morgan explains how after Angus' accident, there was no double wedding right away but Sally wanted to wait till he was better & cared for him - but his injury made him mean to Sally until one day, he hit her & that's when she & Frances left - And Angus couldn't remember what happened after that & so that's when Morgan told him the lie about he double wedding & that the two girls had died in a car accident - LIKE OMG, WHAT A MOMENT OF CLARITY FOR THE TWO FRIENDS BUT THIS AWFUL REALIZATION THAT EVERYTHING HAS BEEN A LIE!!! :O Jesus. Angus realizes Morgan must hate him & how he's carried that around forever & they slip back into things in the next moment & it's weird, like they don't even acknowledge this huge lie, or the fact that their whole lives have been this lie - and Angus recites the wedding poem he never recited before & holds up his drawings.
God. What a play.
I would sell 1/10 of my soul to see this performed OMG.

[Coco · Rating 4 out of 5]

A poignant story that was confusing, lovely, funny, and shocking.

I read this for English class***

Would I have picked this play willingly?…no. Maybe I should start reading plays.

[Shawn Pudsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am curious that there are very few comments available on Goodreads about this play. Others have commented adequately about the story, summarizing that which I need not repeat.

I do want to comment about some of the play's architecture. The playwright uses an interesting technique often found in film scriptwriting: That of set-ups and callbacks - early in the story, little actions, small bits of dialog are introduced that seem odd and not so significant that you would demand to know what they represent. Only at the denouement do we learn and understand that these small actions/dialog contain meaning much more significant than we initially imagined ... and dismissed. In this way, the "real" story sneaks up on the reader.

I am not entirely comfortable with seeing this story through the lens of Miles, being himself an actor in a play. Although it does mirror the dynamic of the play (a story within a story), the device is - when it appears in film, stage or prose - plainly self-referential, which I don't care for.

[Letitia · Rating 3 out of 5]

A poignant little story with interesting characters, and not really all that much to say.

[Christopher · Rating 3 out of 5]

Funny and touching

[Jessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unexpectedly pleased by this play! I had the oppurtunity to watch a live performance of it during the same week that I read it which really helped to enhance the powerful story.