adapted by Susan Bonnell
Presented by Theatre CBS
Wednesday, April 22nd, 7:30pm
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Synopsis
“So much goes through an old fellow’s mind on nights like this, when the wind drives white vapours across windowpanes and frost cracks in the beams…”

Duckish tells the tale of an old storyteller remembering a year he spent teaching in the small, fictitious community of Birchy Island, where he also collected ghost and fairy stories. The play includes dramatic retellings of the stories in An Old Man’s Winter Night and Spirited Away, written by Tom Dawe and adapted for Theatre CBS by Susan Bonnell. Included are stories from Tom’s own family and childhood. The grandmother who was “spirited away” by the fairies, for example, is the story of Tom’s own great grandmother, who lived the mysterious experience in the woods of Conception Bay. The story of the Woman in the White Dress (who makes an appearance or two in our play) recounts a frightening childhood encounter, experienced by his mother’s cousin.

Tom was born in Long Pond, C.B.S., in 1940. He was educated in Conception Bay and then Memorial University of Newfoundland, where he eventually became a full professor. Recipient of numerous awards and honours, Tom was named a member of the Order of Canada and the Order of Newfoundland and Labrador in 2012. His books, An Old Man’s Winter Night: Ghostly Tales and Spirited Away: Fairy Stories of Old Newfoundland were published in 2015 and 2017 by Running the Goat Books and Broadsides.

Duckish premiered on March 20, 2023, in the round at Manuel’s River Hibernia Interpretation Centre, Conception Bay South.

Cast
Brad Stone as Tom
Michelle Lambert as Mrs. Blake
Chris Panting as Mr. Blake
Brenda Hynes as Laura
Gordon Billard as Dr. Gosse
Bridget Russell as Woman in White
Jacqueline Cook as Sarah
David Walsh as Sam
Christine Young as Laura

Crew
Director: Susan Bonnell
Stage Manager: Jaclyn Dimmer
Light and Sound: John Bonnell
Multimedia Design: Chris Panting, John Bonnell
Properties and Puppets: Jodie Goodyear, Baptiste Neis
Costuming: Bernadette Hiscock
Set Design: Susan Bonnell
Set Painting: Veronica Nugent and the Art Club, Queen Elizabeth Regional High School
Set Construction: John Bennett
Music Direction: Maureen Chafe
Original Music: Clara Bonnell
Producer: Andrea Peddle