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    The Thrill
    The Thrill
    The Thrill
    Ebook110 pages52 minutes

    The Thrill

    By Judith Thompson

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    About this ebook

    Elora Dixon is a vibrant, middle-aged lawyer and disability-rights activist who has never walked a step in her life. A neuromuscular disease left her with a curved spine and a reliance on around-the-clock care. Nonetheless, she is an inexorable force when chance pits her against the notorious Julian Summer, who is in town promoting his internationally bestselling book. Julian is a fervent supporter of euthanasia, and Elora is the counter-argument—a living rebuke to parents who want the option of euthanizing a disabled newborn. So it comes as a shock, especially to Elora, when the two find themselves acutely attracted to one another. Will she learn to negotiate her feelings and her convictions, or will Julian’s beliefs begin to colour her own?
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherPlaywrights Canada Press
    Release dateFeb 23, 2015
    ISBN9781770913233
    The Thrill
    Author

    Judith Thompson

    Judith Thompson is a two-time winner of the Governor General's Literary Award for White Biting Dog and The Other Side of the Dark. In 2006 she was invested as an Officer in the Order of Canada and in 2008 she was awarded the prestigious Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for her play Palace of the End. Judith is a professor of drama at the University of Guelph and lives with her husband and five children in Toronto.

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      Book preview

      The Thrill - Judith Thompson

      The Thrill

      Judith Thompson

      Playwrights Canada Press

      Toronto

      Contents

      Playwright's Note

      Production History

      Characters

      Setting

      Act One

      Act One, Scene One

      Act One, Scene Two

      Act One, Scene Three

      Act One, Scene Four

      Act One, Scene Five

      Act One, Scene Six

      Act One, Scene Seven

      Act One, Scene Eight

      Act One, Scene Nine

      Act One, Scene Ten

      Act Two

      Act Two, Scene One

      Act Two, Scene Two

      Act Two, Scene Three

      Act Two, Scene Four

      Act Two, Scene Five

      Act Two, Scene Six

      Act Two, Scene Seven

      Act Two, Scene Eight

      About the Author

      Also By Judith Thompson

      Copyright

      Playwright’s Note

      This play was inspired by the life and work of the late disability activist Harriet McBryde Johnson. Her New York Times Magazine article, Unspeakable Conversations, was particularly inspirational.

      The Thrill was commissioned by the Stratford Festival in Ontario, Canada, where it received its world premiere at the Studio Theatre in the 2013 season. It opened on Tuesday, August 13, 2013, and featured the following cast and crea­tive team:

      Characters

      Elora Dixon: a formidable, funny middle-aged lawyer with a neuromuscular degenerative disease; a self-described bedpan crip. She has never walked or used a toilet and she loves her wheelchair. She waves her freak flag high. She has difficulty digesting, and her spine is curved like an S, but she is quite comfortable. She has a beautiful long braid and loves fine and dramatic clothing. With twenty-four-hour care she has remained in her own home and has a thriving practice as a lawyer and disability-rights activist.

      Francis Fisher: Elora’s primary caregiver. He has been with her for over ten years, and so they share a droll sense of humour, a love of language, and a sense of justice. They do bicker quite a bit, as Francis likes things to be in order and frequently he has to save Elora from herself. Francis was an actor and stand-up comedian at one time, but he has given it up, partly because he was not successful and partly because he married Lance, who wants him to stay close to home. Although he is never sentimental about it, Elora is his best friend in the world and he is terrified of losing her.

      Julian Summer: Julian was brought up in Ireland by his English mother and Irish father. He grew up on the family farm and became a teacher of English and technical writing at a community college. He wrote a book called Wheelbarrow about the death of his sister, which argues for the right to die. It became an international bestseller along the lines of Tuesdays With Morrie, and so he has been travelling the world doing readings and talks, discussing right-to-die issues. Julian is a joker, exuberant, relishes words and arguments. He falls in love with Elora.

      Hannah Summer: Julian’s mother is in her eighties, living in her own home, falling apart. Mostly lucid, a smart, once-formidable woman who adores her son.

      Setting

      Elora’s home, a lecture hall, a restaurant, Hannah’s home.

      Act One

      Scene One

      ELORA, in the dark, turns to the audience.

      ELORA

      Do you believe in heaven?

      I am in heaven, right now, right here, at this very moment in time. I am in heaven every morning. With my Francis givin’ me my teaspoon—my beautiful silver teaspoon of homemade strawberry yogourt. . .

      Creamy, white, rich, like a cloud on my tongue, and then the. . . surprise—of the strawberry, fireworks on the tip of my tongue. . .

      My life is one of sensual pleasures. I am referring to the special and unique pleasures of the crip, especially the bedpan crip. I cherish my pleasures, oh yes, not just the ones y’all experience, you the skiers, the jumpers, and runners, the cartwheelers. . .

      But those pleasures peculiar to my tribe. Those pleasures we are afforded that the rest of the world is not. Oh yes, oh yes indeed, if you are lucky enough to survive a car crash, or an improvised explosive device, or a reckless dive from a cliff into a quarry of sparkling but too shallow water, or if you find yourself in a doctor’s office diagnosed with a degenerative disease that will mean a wheelchair will be your new best friend, you will find out for yourselves. The warm, humid air jazz-dancin’ around you as you whizz down the tree-lined streets of your neighbourhood; and you are high on the scent of jasmine. . . oh the joy of overcoming

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