Friday, 7 October 2011

First Nations Friday: The Bootlegger Blues: A Play by Drew Hayden Taylor

If you have picked up a copy of this play, then get ready to laugh.

Martha followed the advice of a fellow committee member regarding the the amount of beverages to order for the church fundraiser.  Now she is stuck with 143 cases of beer she can't return.  What is a teetotaling woman to do.  Sell them, as in bootleg.  There's a small catch or two, her son is home from police college, and her daughter and son- in-law work for the band council.

This play had me laughing out loud from beginning to end.  I loved every minute.  While the play was written to be set on any reserve in Canada, I think it could also be adapted to many small communities.  I would love to see a performance of this work.  I haven't read a play in years decades and now I am wondering why.  More than likely it was the over studying of them that I did when in high school.  Fortunately author Drew Hayden Taylor has several more that I am looking forward to reading.  For a complete list, be sure to visit Drew's site (click on his name in the previous line).
Reading at the Eden Mills Writers Festival 2010

Additional works by this author:

Motorcyles and Sweetgrass 
Furious Observations of a Blue-Eyed Ojibway: Funny You Don't Look Like One Two Three
Me Sexy  (haven't yet read)

2 comments:

Felicity Grace Terry said...

Not a fan of reading plays but I'd love to see this on the stage as it reminds me of a play I went to see over 20 tears ago, entitled The Tart And The Vicar's Wife it was all about a vicars wife who advertising the church fete accidently led people to believe they were visiting a brothel.

Paulina said...

Thanks for the review. I'm ashamed to say I've never read anything by Drew Hayden Taylor, despite all the good things I've heard about him. I'll definitely have to check out his plays as well as his novels.