The time is 1936, the place is Northern England, a weekend in the country house of the Ashburys. Jane Ashbury dreams of being the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic, from east to west. Her childhood friend, Nora Duckworth, has flight fantasies that are decidedly more eccentric… The weekend erupts into chaos, as seven characters become more and more entangled with each other; there is a failed sexual betrayal; an outrageous attempt to fly without wings; a mental breakdown prompted by memories of World War I; an ongoing plot to sabotage Jane’s plans to fly across the Atlantic; and finally, there is a seance in which many truths are revealed. Lyrical, luminous, wonderfully theatrical–And Up They Flew is a “serious comedy” about the tensions of the 20th century.
News & Reviews
“Part of the reason for the success of their shows is that Ross, Cherniak, and their collaborators never lose the heart of their work, never go for the abstract instead of the human.” —Plays International
About the Author
Martha Ross is a playwright and educator who trained at L’Ecole Jacques Lecoq in Paris. Upon her return to Canada, she joined forces with another Lecoq graduate, Leah Cherniak, to establish Toronto’s Theatre Columbus (now Common Boots Theatre). Martha created numerous award-winning plays collectively and collaboratively for Theatre Columbus: The Anger in Ernest and Ernestine, Paranoia, Fertility, The Betrayal, The Attic, The Pearls and Three Fine Girls, and Hotel Loopy, to name just a few. As a solo writer, Martha wrote Porch People, Dr.Dapertutto, And Up They Flew, The Story, The Crack, The Dog and the Angel, and The Bog. Martha teaches the Lecoq method of creation at universities across Canada.
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