Two Ships Passing is the sequel to Dave Carley’s Midnight Madness, which received its world premiere in 1988, and went on to become one of Canada’s most widely produced plays.

In the decade since their encounter in Midnight Madness, Anna and Wesley’s lives have changed considerably: Anna has recently been appointed to the bench and Wesley has become a minister. Anna’s son, Jason, thirteen when we last saw him in Midnight Madness, is now a university graduate - in business administration. The trio’s political views have diverged over the years and the once sexually repressed Wesley has even managed to develop a few sexual peccadilos.

Set against the public background of Ontario under Mike Harris’s "Common Sense Revolution" and the private background of personal successes and failures, Two Ships Passing provides theatre-goer and play-reader alike with the lively and witty intellectual debate normally associated with Shaw.

Dave Carley is a Toronto-based playwright whose plays have had close to 500 productions across Canada, the United States and in many countries around the world. They include Midnight Madness, Writing with Our Feet (nominated for the Governor General's Award), After You, an adaptation of Margaret Atwood's novel The Edible Woman, Taking Liberties, and Orchidelirium. Dave is the former editor at the Playwrights Union of Canada (now Playwrights Guild) and, for many years, was both script editor at CBC Radio Drama and play editor for Scirocco Drama. Dave's most recent full-length works have been Twelve Hours; an adaptation of Al Purdy's novel A Splinter in the Heart, and Canadian Rajah. He is currently completing a new work for stage: Hope is a Bird.

Dave Carley's profile page

"Two Ships Passing shares ... the playwright's trademark intelligence, skill in narrative exposition, rueful introspection, and ability to imbue characters with warmth and humanity."

CBRA