Half Life

By John Mighton

Two nursing home residents, both in their eighties, meet and fall in love, rekindling what might have been a wartime romance.

Had they previously met somewhere else under different circumstances? Why is their love so troubling for their children? Indeed, the light at dusk is sometimes warmer and more enveloping than that of the midday sun. Characters navigate between being and appearance, between cowardice and dissoluteness. The award-winning author of Possible Worlds brings us this poetic and moving meditation on identity, aging, and the nature of memory. What shines through when memory fades away?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Playwrights Canada Press
• Release date: Jul 1, 2005
• ISBN: 9781770913790

John Mighton

John Mighton holds a Ph.D. in Mathematics from the University of Toronto and is the founder of JUMP (Junior Undiscovered Math Prodigies), an educational charity providing free tutoring to elementary-level students in the Toronto area. The JUMP program is currently being tested in three schools in West Virginia. John Mighton is also an award-winning playwright, currently adapting Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe for a stage production at New York's Lincoln Center, and appeared in the Academy Award-winning film Good Will Hunting. He lives in Toronto.

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Cover: Half Life by John Mighton

HALF LIFE

HALF LIFE

John Mighton

Playwrights Canada Press Toronto • Canada

Half Life © 2005 by John Mighton

No part of this book may be reproduced, downloaded, or used in any form or by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher, except for excerpts in a review or by a licence from Access Copyright, www.accesscopyright.ca.

For professional or amateur production rights, please contact:

Rena Zimmerman, Great North Artists Management

350 Dupont St., Toronto, ON M5R 1V9

[phone], [e-mail]

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION

Mighton, John, 1957-

Halflife / John Mighton.

A play.

ISBN 978-0-88754-816-1

1. Nursing homes--Drama. I. Title.

PS8576.I29H34 2005 C812’.54 C2005-902196-9

We acknowledge the financial support of the Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council (OAC), Ontario Creates, and the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities.

For my parents

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Sherrie Johnson for encouraging me to write this play and for helping to find the means for its creation, Daniel Brooks for opening my eyes to the possibilities of theatre and for shaping the play through his brilliant instincts and the cast of the original production for their extremely helpful suggestions and their inspiring performances.

John Mighton

Half Life received its premiere at the Tarragon Theatre (Toronto) in February 2005, co-produced by Necessary Angel Theatre Company and Tarragon Theatre with the following cast:

Directed by Daniel Brooks

Set & costumes designed by Dany Lyne

Sound designed by Richard Feren

Lighting designed by Andrea Lundy

Stage managed by Crystal Salverda

Stage management assisted by Kathryn Porter

•••

Half Life was developed in residence with da da kamera through the support of the Ontario Arts Council Playwright Residency Grant and The Canada Council for the Arts Artist in Residence Program.

Half Life was developed in partnership with the National Theatre School (Montreal, Quebec), Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama/Tron Theatre (Glasgow, Scotland) and The Playwright Project (Mooresville, North Carolina).

Half Life was further developed by Necessary Angel Theatre Company (Toronto) and received its first public presentation at Theatre Passe Muraille as part of Necessary Angel’s 2003/2004 season.

Characters

DONALD

ANNA

TAMMY

REVEREND HILL

AGNES

CLARA

PATRICK

DIANA

Scene 1

DONALD and ANNA, two characters in their forties, sit in the common room of a nursing home for veterans and their families.

DONALD: I was telling a story once, about my father’s experiences during the war—he spent four years in a prisoner of war camp—and right in the middle of my story, a man walked up and handed the woman I was talking to a drink. The man only spoke to the woman for a moment but while they were talking it occurred to me that she might already have forgotten my story. So when the man left, just to see what would happen, I started to talk about something else.

ANNA: Did she remember your story?

DONALD: No. So now, at parties, as an experiment, I won’t continue telling a story when I’m interrupted, and sixty percent of the time the person I’m talking to will forget I was telling a story.

ANNA: Sixty percent? Does it really happen that often?

TAMMY enters and hands ANNA a form.

TAMMY: I need you to sign this.

ANNA: I hope Doctor Stevens has sent you his files.

TAMMY: Yes.

ANNA: My father hasn’t eaten properly for months. He suffers from depression but he