The Last of the Pelican Daughters

by The Wardrobe Ensemble

In folklore, pelican mothers feed their young on their own blood. In 2019, four sisters are trying to divide their mother's house between them.Joy wants a baby, Storm wants to be seen, Sage wants to be paid, Maya doesn't want anyone to find out her secret and Granny's in a wheelchair on day release. Mum's presence still seeps through the ceiling and the floors. The Pelican Daughters are home for the last time.The Wardrobe Ensemble's play The Last of the Pelican Daughters is a comedy about four sisters trying to come to terms with their mother's death. It combines the company's trademark irreverent humour and lovable characters to tackle the idea of what it means for young people to grapple with inheritance, loss and justice.The Last of the Pelican Daughters was first staged at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2019.'Just wonderful. The show captures the little rifts and rivalries that exist between the sisters and it has an ace up its sleeve in the form of a gorgeous, heart-flooding movement sequence' - The Stage

Genres: Plays

146 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 6, 2020

Reviews

[Jack · Rating 4 out of 5]

great little fringe play!

[abi slade · Rating 3 out of 5]

3⭐️

pros ✅
- very fun nostalgia
- projections were a nice touch and a good recurring motif
- good pacing
- liked the repeated direct address sequences at the top of the ‘chapters’
- the scene with granny and derren was sad
- i was Team Sage, girl just wanted to eat cake in bed at midnight
- the brother was a bit of a surprise

cons ❌
- did find that with reading the play (rather than watching it) i found that the four sisters kind of all blended in to one and was a bit of a challenge to differentiate
- the symbolic bits with them all wearing the dress didn’t translate to me in reading it
- the ending irked me, felt rushed
- preferred the writing of ‘1972: the future of sex’ (which is also a wardrobe ensemble play)
- wish i’d gone to see it

[Lauren · Rating 4 out of 5]

manifesting that i’m cast as maya (or sage) for my last uni production ⭐️