The elderly Gidley sisters lead unassuming and unexciting lives in Blyth, Ontario in 1971. Tart-tongued Pearl and the more romantically-minded Edith live frugally, renting a room to the occasional boarder to help make ends meet. But the sisters' orderly life is turned upside-down when their neighbour George asks them to take in Charles, a young American Vietnam veteran.

The characters in this beautifully-written, bittersweet comedy gently draw out one another's stories: and along the way must come to terms with loyalty and betrayal, long-ago heartbreak, the consequences of sacrifice, and the power of music.

Gary Kirkham is a playwright, actor and filmmaker. His plays include Falling: A Wake, Pearl Gidley, Queen Milli of Galt, Rage Against Violence (with Dwight Strorring) and Pocket Rocket (with Lea Daniel) . Gary is an artistic associate with the MT Space in Waterloo, Ontario, and has worked in collaboration with the company on several shows including The Last 15 Seconds, Seasons of Immigration, Body 13, and AMAL. Kirkham’s plays have been produced by more than fifty theatres across Canada and internationally, and have been translated into French, Italian and Arabic.

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"Pearl Gidley is a modest play. But it is modest in the way Carol Shields' novels are modest, Alice Munro's and Ernest Hemingway's short stories are modest or Anton Chekhov's plays are modest." - The Waterloo Record

"The audience gave this play a standing ovation, and for good reason: the play touches the heart." - The Globe and Mail