Settle Down, Ellie Preview

This is a preview performance of Settle Down, Ellie by Step Taylor

A preview performance is an early public showing of a production before its official opening night. It gives audiences the opportunity to see the show while it is still being fine-tuned. Using previews, the creative team may make small adjustments to pacing, staging, technical elements, or performance details based on what they learn from a live audience. The core production is fully rehearsed and ready to perform, but previews allow the artists to refine the work before it officially opens.

For audiences, attending a preview can be an exciting opportunity to experience the show in its early stages and be part of its final shaping. We offer tickets to our preview performances at a reduced price. 

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.