The play is set in Victoria, British Columbia, in 1931. Brigit Hammerson lives her family home with a dark secret that even she ignores. But everything comes back to her when a stranger from New Zealand, Mr. Bertram, comes to visit, bringing with him letters and news of her lover of thirty years past.
His arrival triggers the interest of Brigit's aunt Mary Lennox and her cousin Selena who live with her and work for her. Mary Lennox lost her money in the 1929 Stock Market Crash; Selena's modicum of money.
With the return of the past (the letters) Brigit seeks to free herself of her past, while Mary works to undermine her, saying that she is mad. Mary is after the Hammerson money, while Selena just wants freedom.
Eventually the tension in the relationship of the three women brings in a policeman, Mr. F Fosdick, sent by his superior to do a certain job. As a policeman he's not quite sane either.
Except for Bertram, none of the characters are sane.
Keywords:Â Victoria, letters
Genre: Mystery, Comedy
Run time: 90 minutes
Suitable for students 14+
Cast size: 5 actors
Male roles: 2
Female roles: 3
Casting note:Â
Brigit; fifty
Mary Lennox; sixty
Selena; claims to be thirty-five but seems both older and younger. Childish but with a certain exhaustion that suggests long years of of suffering
Bertram; late fifties, early sixties, always a New Zealand sheep farmer who has ventured out into the world to see the sights and to present Brigit with her letters
Fosdick; about twenty-six, a detective but a strange man for any job in a police force