Inspired by a quote from the I Ching about how we respond to tragedy — “Some weep, some blow upon flutes” — Mary Vingoe’s play is the story of Costas, an elderly Greek shoe repairman whose wife Elena suffers from dementia and whose marriage has been eroded by a family secret. Costas is in denial of his wife’s illness, but Lia, their teenage granddaughter who cares for her grandmother, is not. Costas’ life is altered when Sandra, a professional organizer who cannot begin to organize her own life, enters his shop. An unlikely, at times humorous friendship develops between the two — until we discover that Sandra’s estranged daughter Marijke is fourteen and pregnant. A chance meeting between Elena and Marijke leads to an unravelling of past lives and buried grievances which play out with unexpected results. Some Blow Flutes brings the issue of dementia into the open and explores the possibility of compassion and redemption in the face of overwhelming odds.
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About the Author
Mary Vingoe is a director, artistic director, festival director, playwright, teacher, and actor who has worked at theatres across the country. Vingoe is celebrated for co-founding four major theatre companies in Canada: Toronto’s Nightwood Theatre, Ship’s Company Theatre in Parrsboro, NS, The Eastern Front Theatre in Halifax and the Magnetic North Theatre Festival at Canada’s National Arts Centre. Vingoe’s plays include Living Curiosities, Refuge, which was short-listed for the 2016 Governor General’s Award for Drama, and Some Blow Flutes, which was nominated for best new play at the 2019 Nova Scotia Merritt Awards.
