Duck

A couple dig through unseen piles of family heirlooms, and realize they never really listened to their endless family stories - and now nobody's alive to ask.
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Duck

Recommended by

  • Doug DeVita:
    15 Jan. 2021
    One of the things I love about this play is how Cowley turns the old and familiar upside down simply by introducing an object heretofore known only through an old black & white photograph; when seen in all its vividly colorful glory, questions arise that can never be answered, and a wistful sense of loss becomes real. A lovely, probing, touching work.
  • Steven G. Martin:
    5 Jan. 2021
    Entire lives of loved ones, winnowed down to artifacts that puzzle the protagonists in this short play.

    I love the moods I felt reading Sheila Cowley's "Duck" -- joy knowing that Jamie's and Casey's relatives had lovely, lively salad days; wistfulness in wishing some of the history of these wonderful items could be explained (a red hibiscus dress? a Bowie knife? a curry comb? a painting of a duck?), but knowing they could not; and pleasure in how Jamie's feelings toward these items change. "Not all of it."

    Another layered, complex, subtle play by Cowley.
  • Cheryl Bear:
    16 May. 2020
    A very relatable play that makes us appreciate our loved ones all the more and makes us want to investigate their memories before it's too late. Lovely.

Character Information

  • JAMIE
    30s-60s,
    Any
    ,
    Any
  • CASEY
    30s-60s,
    Any
    ,
    Any

Production History