“FROM WAY BACK, I WAS ACCUMULATING STUFF FOR A COTTAGE THAT I DIDN’T OWN”
THE SETTING:
A modest, rustic-looking water-access Ontario cottage, tucked among birches and maples on the south shore of nine-acre, four-property May Island, in Lake Rosseau’s Venetia island group; a 10-minute boat ride from the mainland
THE CHARACTERS:
Alan Marr, a semi-retired advertising copywriter, a director of TV commercials, and the cottage’s current owner; claims puttering is an Olympic event, and he’s in training for the Canadian team; a.k.a. “Monk,” from the name of his long-ago high-school band, “Monk Marr and the Clergy Reserves”
Sheila McCarthy, award-winning actor, Monk’s spouse, and self-confessed 100 per cent city girl
Gillian, Meredith, and Andrew, Monk’s three grown kids
Don Fairbrother, original owner of the cottage with his wife, Kitty, who died in 1989; Don is varyingly described by the other characters as a: “recluse,” “fuddy-duddy, but very charming,” “gentleman,” “very quirky,” “really sweet old guy who hoarded everything”
ACT 1, SCENE 1
Remembrance of horrors past
IT’S BEEN 22 YEARS since Monk purchased Don Fairbrother’s very rundown, crammed-full (Director’s note: gross understatement) cottage. But his kids still gleefully recall the details of their first weekend:
Andrew, 38, a professional fishing guide: “It was like looking inside a hoarder’s house. You couldn’t move more than a foot or two in there because of the junk. The dining room table was piled high with it: newspapers, unfinished projects, old-fashioned fishing rods, lures…”
Meredith, 41, a marketing consultant: “…Deer antlers. Mason jars filled with rocks. Set after set of salt-and-pepper shakers. He kept absolutely everything, all these nutty things: a chip of paint from their old canoe, a patch of their ’50s kitchen tablecloth, Kitty’s nighties…”
, 43, a freelance producer: “…Even
