fat salmon cinema in association with nextPix presents

a new feature film by halloran and hicks
   
 

Singing The Bones - the play 

 
 

about the play : reviews : awards : published : performances : excerpts : caitlin : about the title

Singing the Bones, the feature-length motion picture, is based on the play of the same name written by Caitlin Hicks and published by Playwrights Union of Canada in 1998.

Two Acts. Three characters. A play in monologue

Singing the Bones is the story of three women whose lives are linked by a mysterious pregnancy: Meg, a passionate midwife who believes in women's power in birth; Nicole, a feisty, down-to-earth mother, who is pregnant with twins and determined to birth without intervention and Sara, the compassionate obstetrician whose secrets "are leaking from every pocket." As Nicole's pregnancy is discovered to be high-risk, Meg must answer the question: Is one woman's choice worth the chance that her babies may die? On the night of the birth the dreams and secrets of all three women collide, creating the possibility of a small miracle.

Singing The Bones is a vision into a hopeful future which echoes our past, when women's role was at the heart of being human, when power meant giving life. Its darkness and reconciliation offers an inspiration for our survival, a glimpse into our possibilities as human beings.

The play was written on the Sunshine Coast of British Columbia, inspired by true stories and written with support from Western Canada Theatre Company, Tamanhous Theatre, Headlines Theatre, Firehall Arts Centre, Green Thumb Theatre the Women in View Festival and the Canada Council. The play has since toured over 35 cities in Canada, the United States, England and Sweden -- to standing ovations.


REVIEWS

"Play on birth bristles with life."
-Victoria Times Colonist

 

"Singing The Bones" -- brilliant, mature, educative and profoundly moving. Hicks' directness is imbued with both style and humour. She has a pithy wit that leaves us, her audience, wiser about the vicissitudes of the Human Condition, yet thoroughly entertained. This is her special gift."
- Trysh Ashby Rolls,
author of "Triumph, A Journey of Healing From Incest"

 

"Striking Imagery, Powerful Performance"
-Grand Forks Gazette,
The Kootenay Tour , B.C. Canada

"Since the show I have had so much feedback from those who came -- all of it rapturous. . . many of us felt it was the most powerful and important play we had ever had the fortune to attend. . .The issues dealt with in Singing The Bones really need to be thought about and discussed in this country."
- Sara Davies, host of Singing The Bones
Salford University, Manchester, England

 

More Reviews and Quotes...
What Audiences are Saying about
"SINGING THE BONES", the play

 

EXCERPTS FROM THE SCRIPT

"I was holding this precious little person in my arms and my heart was breaking in a way only a mother can know. This is a long moment of my life which I hold in my mind's eye. You are looking at the little feet and his fingers shaped so small like a doll, and he is breathing and he is warm, and all the hunger inside of you is satisfied. You can fall asleep like that. You know you are where the universe had put you."
     - Nicole, the mother

"You can give birth to this baby! You were designed to give birth to this baby!. . Somewhere you have a knowledge of this, a biological memory imprinted on your X chromosome!"
     -Meg, the midwife

"In Canada, it's easy to feel safe the next morning. You can wake up in a mall surrounded by sunshine and colourful toys. . . an early morning world, clean uniforms, a scrubbed face, productive and intelligent, washing so much blood from sticky fingers. Starting over the next day, cleaned and pressed, like nothing happened last night. As if death is reluctant to strike those who smell like lotion. As if the secret to immortality is to have a fact that has been recently shaved."
     -Sara, the obstetrician


  Singing The Bones 

P r o d u c t i o n   H i s t o r y

Written by Caitlin Hicks *
Designed & directed by Gordon Halloran
* Produced by Third Coast Theatre 

AWARDS

June, 1997, Singing The Bones chosen to be read at the
4th International Women Playwrights Conference in Galway, Ireland

March, 1998, Honourable Mention, Crossing Borders , International Playwrighting Contest
sponsored by Wharf Rat Theatre in Salem, Mass

PUBLISHED

SINGING THE BONES was published by Playwrights Union of Canada
in January 1998. Copies of the script may be purchased
by calling (416) 703-0201 or by email: orders@puc.ca

Three monologues from SINGING THE BONES are featured in
"The Best Women's Stage Monlogues of 1997" published
by Smith & Kraus (New York), edited by Jocelyn Beard.
To order: (918) 878-6388 or visit your local bookstore.

 

Performed

2 0 0 0

April 19th - April 30th, Factory Theatre, Toronto

May 5th, Castle Theatre,Aden Bowman CollegiateTheatre, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

May 12th & 13th, Capitola Theatre, Santa Cruz, California

June 10th, Franco Manitoban Cultural Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba

1 9 9 9

December 5th, Association for Pre & Perinatal Psychology & Health

Cathedral Hill Hotel, San Francisco, California

1 9 9 8
Sweden/UK Tour

September 11th, Midwifery Today Conference, Ealing Town Hall, London, UK

September 15th & 16th, Pusterviksteatern, Gothenberg, Sweden

September 22nd, 23rd, 24th, Strindberg Theatre, Stockholm, Sweden

September 30th, Mumford Theatre, Anglia Polytechnic University, Cambridge, UK

October 3rd, The Chapman Theatre, Manchester, UK

October 6th, University of Sheffield, Merlin Theatre, Sheffield, UK

October 16th, Ariel Centre, Devon, UK

Tour of California

April 18th, DellArte Theatre, Eureka

April 19th, Mateel Community Center, Redway

May 5th, Beverly Hills Library Auditorium, Beverly Hills

May 11th, Center Stage Theatre, Santa Barbara

May 15th, Chico Women's Center, Chico

Readings

October 14th, University of North Dakota Memorial Union Lecture Bowl
sponsored by University of North Dakota Women's Center,
Women Studies and English Department

October 5th, Conference at Old Hill Hotel, Ramsbottom, England

November 6th, 40 Herengracht, Amsterdam, Holland

1 9 9 7

May 24th, The Raven's Cry Theatre, Sechelt, BC

August 9th, Hotel Colorado, Glenwood Springs, Colorado

October 3rd, Mariahissen, Stockholm, Sweden, International Home birth Conference

October 23rd-24th, Calgary Centre for the Performing Arts, Calgary, Alberta

October 25th, Stanley A. Milner Library Theatre, Edmonton, Alberta

November 1st, Doubletree Hotel, Bellevue, Washington,
Midwives Alliance of North America Conference

Tour of England

July 3rd & 4th, University of Leeds, Leeds, England, Women & Texts Conference

July 5th, Salford University, Manchester, England

July 6th, Birmingham Women's Hospital, Birmingham, England

July 7th, Griffin Theatre Centre, Herefordshire, England

1 9 9 6

October 25th, Douglas College, New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada

1 9 9 5

September 23rd, The Capitol Theatre, Nelson, British Columbia, Canada

September 29th, Grand Forks Senior Secondary, Grand Forks, British Columbia, Canada

November 9th - 12th, Open Space Theatre,Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

1 9 9 4

March 8th & 9th, Workshop production as Singing The Bones
The Rockwood Centre, Sechelt, British Columbia, Canada

1 9 9 3

April 10th, Monologue from Singing The Bones, The Rockwood Centre, Sechelt,
British Columbia, Canada

1 9 9 2

January, First workshop production as Plutonium in Space
Women In View Festival, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

February 10, Live performance as Plutonium in Space
Dark Horse Theatre, Station Street Arts Centre, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

OTHER PLAYS BY CAITLIN HICKS

Caitlin Hicks
Playwright/Performer

UNDER THE PORCH

SIX PALM TREES

JUST A LITTLE FEVER

STORIES FOR A WINTER SOLSTICE

VOLTAGE

SINGING THE BONES, The Play

SINGING THE BONES, Feature Length Motion Picture

SIX PALMIERS, French Adaptation of Six Palm Trees

 
   

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