To Shut the Mouths of Lions is a darkly comic drama about the McBride family and its conservative patriarch William McBride, whose gay, younger son Richie, a former junior hockey star, is now a successful Toronto lawyer. It is Boxing Day 2014 and first-born, less-appreciated son Rob arrives for the day, bringing his fiery wife Colleen and her brand of leftist politics into the fray. Only William's wife Geraldine knows that William has cancer and 18 months to live. When the boys and Colleen learn this fact, Richie's unwelcome husband Gareth shows up with their infant son, a grandson the homophobic William knows nothing about. Gareth challenges William on principle, refusing to leave this "family celebration" until William accepts his grandson. The play is funny, sad, at times explosive, but ultimately human in the final scene when revelations about William and Colleen surface.
First Produced: Firehall Theatre Cobourg, Ontario - April 2016
Acts: 2
Male Roles: 4
Female Roles: 2