Queen of Queen Street, The (Performance Series) - Softcover

Hunter, Maureen

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0921833563 ISBN 13: 9780921833567

Publisher: Signature Editions, 1998

Synopsis

Bertha Rand, Winnipeg's Cat Lady, was a familiar figure in the news; many knew her as the mad woman who lived in squalour with over fifty felines. In her tiny house on Queen Street, Bertha took in sick and abandoned cats, battling her neighbours and city hall to save them, taking her cause to the media. In The Queen of Queen Street, Maureen Hunter delves into Bertha Rand's tragic life of poverty and deprivation to bring us a richly layered drama of one woman's will to survive, and a universal story of hope and strength.

About this title

About the Author

Maureen Hunter is one of Canada's most accomplished playwrights. She is the author of eight full-length plays, including Wild Mouth, Vinci, Atlantis and Transit of Venus, the first Canadian play ever produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company of Britain. Her work has been produced extensively in Canada, as well as in Britain and the U.S. and by CBC and BBC Radio. It has been nominated for two Governor General's Awards, two Dora Mavor Moore Awards and the Lou Siminovitch Prize in Theatre. Other plays include The Queen of Queen Street, Beautiful Lake Winnipeg and Footprints on the Moon. She also wrote the libretto for the opera version of Transit of Venus, which premiered at the Manitoba Opera in 2007. A native of Saskatchewan, she lives on the banks of the Red River in Winnipeg.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Bertha: A cat is a miracle, that's what I believe. Lights up the house, like -- electricity. First you have nothing but candles, and kerosene lamps, and you stumble around in the dark, banging your toes. Straining your eyes. Then you take a cat in your lap and -- snap! Revelation! (Beat) So. That's it, then, that's settled. A house, and a cat. That's my future right there -- sprawled across my knee like a map. (Shift to Queen Street. Autumn, late 1960s. The lights peppering the stage begin to move, sway, swirl.) What's that? What's happening? (Picks up the cat, rises, turns upstage.) And what's this? Another cat? And another, and another and another and -- and they all want to be with me! Well. Never thought of this, never thought of being -- popular. Oh, just look. Beautiful, did you ever in your life see anything so . . . hungry, though. Why are they all so hungry? Why, these cats are starving! That's people for you. Oh yes! That's the milk of human kindness. Well, don't you worry, kitty-cats. You've come to the right place now. You've found your way to the arms of the queen of Queen Street!

Edition details

• Publisher: Signature Editions
• Publication date: 1998
• ISBN 10: 0921833563
• ISBN 13: 9780921833567
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 96