David French

Leaving Home David French

Drama

Characters: 4 male, 3 female

Interior Set

An exceptional drama by an award winning Canadian playwright.

The Mercer family's cohesiveness is being torn asunder. The subtle threads of mutual understanding, confidence and trust have come unraveled. The key character is the patriarch, Jacob, a man obsessed with making his two sons reflections of himself. A complex man, sometimes compassionate, and often contradictory, who inspires rebellion in his sons, Billy, and Ben. Jacob's wife, Mary, remains loyal to her husband but wants her sons to be free to go their own way. The crisis takes place when Billy, the younger son, is about to be married to Kathy, pregnant and of another religion. But a greater shock is in store for Jacob when Ben tells him he is leaving home and going to rent a room at the young newlywed's place. Oedipal conflicts explode that marriage eve and the family is never the same again.

"The lacerating quality of inter-family warfare carries both superb comedy and powerful emotional force...an overwhelming dramatic experience." -The Toronto Star