The Girl Who Swam Forever
by Marie Clements
- Characters
- Forever/The Girl: A young Katzie girl, 16, that is running from a Catholic mission school. The mythical girl-sturgeon. She has a dream-like quality and moves with the ease of a fish.
- Grandmother/The Old One: The Girl’s dead grandmother. An ancient sturgeon. Old, gentle and deep.
- Ray/Brother Big Eyes: The Girl’s brother. Older and cooler. A great dancer. The Owl in the myth. Bird-like movements and attitude.
- The Church Frogs: Voices of the church. Nightmare-ish. The church conscience of the Girl. They take the form of nuns and priests dressed in black with large frog heads.
- Setting
- The play is both underwater and on land. Real and myth. Movement based. Using slides, video and a soundscape to create both worlds. Real time: Early sixties. Mythical time: The beginning.
- Summary
- The Katzie myth–of the girl who spent her days swimming and became a fish, and of her brother who grieved until being turned into a white owl to watch over his sister–is put into motion with Clements’ story of a girl named Forever. The story unfolds mostly with a surreal, dream-like quality interjected with bits of Forever’s real situation of being caught between her developing sexuality, the church’s haunting morals, her brother’s over-protectiveness and the secret in her womb.
Synopsis written by J. Barnett 9/30/97.
