Abstract

This play reunites three generations of women, Pat (79), Elaine (52), and Julia (23), in the family house during an ice storm. Julia, who lives with her father, visits her mother for the first time in months with the news that her father is getting remarried. Lonely and bitter, Elaine is desperate to reconnect with her daughter and control her happiness. Pat’s presence appeases this dynamic, until she reveals her own secret reason for staying at the house. As they spend time together playing a game called Barricades, the three women grapple with the choices they made and the ones they will make. “The past is the past, and the future is the future,” Pat says, but is it? Grounded in questions of identity, desire, and betrayal, the narrative explores the complexity of memories and human relationships. Written with a tinge of humour, the work is influenced by Wendy Wasserstein’s plays and realistic theatre and portrays three complicated women in 2020.