One of the most produced Canadian plays of the past three decades, The Drawer Boy is inspired by the creation of The Farm Show, the legendary production that sent a group of actors to rural Ontario to learn directly from farming communities.

On a quiet farm, lifelong friends Morgan and Angus live inside a carefully structured routine shaped by a wartime injury that altered Angus’s memory. When Miles, a young actor from Toronto, arrives to research rural life for a theatre project, his presence disrupts the balance the two men have built over the years. What follows is a funny and revealing collision between urban theatre-making and farm life, as Miles observes the farmers and begins collecting stories for the stage.

Cast: Tom Barnett, Patrick McManus, Stephen Jackman-Torkoff

The Drawer Boy by Michael Healy

If you’re interested in hearing more plays about Canadian rural life, check out Between Breaths by Robert Chafe, available on our feed.