Settle Down, Ellie

An original Newfoundland play by Step Taylor, a longtime collaborator with Rising Tide Theatre.

Settle Down, Ellie is a funny and moving story about family, resettlement, and the tangly experience of coming home.

Ellie returns to her Newfoundland outport hometown of Marcellin for the first time in two years after the tragic passing of her mother. The town is up for another relocation vote next month and she is determined to convince her ailing father Harold to vote in favour of it this time so he can live closer to medical services but Harold, the owner of the one shop in town, has no intention of leaving the only job and home he’s ever known.  Ellie’s homecoming is further complicated by the fact that she is accompanied by her new partner, Nadine, of whom none of her family or friends have heard, least of all her childhood best friend and high school sweetheart Cyril, who still pines for her from a tent in the middle of the woods.

Inspired by the author’s travels to real NL outports such as Grey River and Francois (still active) and Grand Bruit and Little Bay Islands (since relocated), the play explores what it means to belong, to leave, to return, and the possibility of your home no longer existing.