Play Analysis

 Lucy by Damien Atkins is a Realist Drama in two acts.

Playwright

Damien Atkins      

                                               

  Damien Atkins was born in Australia, but now makes his home in Toronto.He has been seen on stages in Toronto and across Canada and the U.S. (including the renowned Shaw and Stratford Festivals), as well as on television and in movie theatres. Damien got his start as an actor at the age of five with the St. Albert Children's Theatre, a unique and widely respected theatre company in Alberta that produces theatre by children, for adults. He also attended the theatre arts program at Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton. He has training and experience in classical, modern, and musical theatre. Since his graduation he has appeared in plays by Shakespeare, Wilde, and Pinter, as well as many modern classics by writers like Timothy Findley, Brad Fraser, and Mark Ravenhill. On television Damien has appeared on NBC ("The Matthew Shepard Story"), CBC ("This is Wonderland"), BBC, CTV, Showtime ("Our Fathers"), TMN and the Sundance Channel (as a regular in season 3 of the acclaimed Canadian series "Slings and Arrows"). As a playwright, he has also been produced across the country and on CBC Radio. He was the youngest playwright ever produced by the Stratford Festival. He is the recipient of two Dora Mavor Moore Awards, Toronto's awards for theatre excellence. Bio Link 

Plot Summary 

The titular character is a 13-year-old girl being raised by her devoted father, Gavin, somewhere in the western part of the U.S. He has gotten Lucy accepted to a prestigious special school in the East, near her mother’s home. He asks his ex-wife to take Lucy for a year so the girl can get the advanced treatment she needs. Lucy’s mother, Vivian, is a brilliant anthropologist who is totally absorbed in herself and her work; she has no maternal instincts and left her daughter when she was quite young to spend years on a dig in Africa.
Forced into caring for Lucy, Vivian is at a total loss as to what to do; her research assistant, Julia, is able to connect with Lucy instantly, much to Vivian’s surprise. Caring for her daughter brings many of Vivian’s own insecurities and fears to the surface and she starts to crumble. Ever the scientist, Vivian distrusts what Lucy’s therapist is recommending and rather than stick to the highly structured day that her ex-husband mapped out—and the therapist wholly endorses—she starts encouraging Lucy’s “acting out.” Link

Characters:

Lucy - a thirteen year old girl diagnosed with Autism
Vivian - Lucy's mother, an accomplished anthropologist who agrees to care for Lucy as Gavin strengthens his new marriage.
Gavin - Lucy's father and primary caregiver, requests that Vivian take care of Lucy for a year so they can grow close.
Julia - Vivian's assistant and friend.
Dr. Morris - a psychologist who is trying to help Lucy learn to function in society despite her Autism.

Analysis

Lucy, currently on view at Ensemble Studio Theatre, is a mother/daughter story unlike any you have probably encountered before. What makes it truly original is that it spins into an intellectual adventure in which illness, evolution, and love all have their part to play. While it begins like a conventional TV movie in which two needy characters will eventually come together to help one another to become better people in the end, the artfulness of the script by Damien Atkins soon takes hold to surprise us with both the direction of the plot and the brash, fresh ideas that propel the startling turn of events in the second act. (Read more at Lucy Review)