The Lonely Diner: Al Capone in Euphemia Township
“Beverley Cooper has written a play that is gripping and complex.”
Michael Spencer Davis, Rylan Wilkie, Catherine Fitch, Haley McGee, Duval Lang, Blyth Festival 2012
The year is 1928. Prohibition has just been lifted in Ontario but still holds firm in Chicago. For those who want a drink, the morality is shaky. In a quiet little diner close to the U.S. border, Lucy yearns for excitement. She longs for the glamorous life she feels everyone is having but her: glamour built on the sale and consumption of illegal liquor. Her husband, Ron, and daughter, Sylvia, like the quiet life, but Lucy is stifled by it. However, when a couple of well-dressed American gangsters make an after hours visit, Lucy changes her tune as the stakes get higher…
Although the play works on a purely dramatic level of rich characters, suspense and humour, this play is also about the choices we make. What is our fascination with celebrity and violence? And where is the moral line drawn in the sand? Published by Scirocco Drama 3M/2F
“…the story has more twists than a strand of spaghetti on a fork….. The play combines dramatic tension — there is a moment when the action verges on violence — with abundant humour.”