The Melville Boys

First produced in October 1984 by Theatre New Brunswick in Fredericton, The Melville Boys is Norm Foster’s second play. Laying the foundation for his reputation as one of Canada’s most produced and funny playwrights, The Melville Boys examines family life to comically reveal the accompanying responsibilities and associated difficulties. Taking place over the course of a weekend at a cottage owned by relatives of brothers Owen and Lee Melville, the setting provides a stark contrast with that from which Owen and Lee have just escaped. Trading in their factory clothes for their fishing gear, the brothers view the weekend away as an opportunity to spend some quality time together—an opportunity that is becoming increasingly urgent as Lee, the older brother, has recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Unable to come to terms with his brother’s illness, Owen initially eschews Lee’s attempts at meaningful (but difficult) conversation in favour of getting back to what he describes as “country life you son of a bitch!” and fishing. Owen’s vision of their retreat only gets better when two sisters, Mary and Loretta, show up at the dock of the cottage and he explains to his brother “look, we’ve got fish and women!” Despite Owen’s superficial and misogynist comment, the unplanned arrival of the two sisters ends up having a very real and meaningful impact on both Owen and Lee and their relationship with each other.

Though both brothers work at the local plastics manufacturing plant, that is where their similarities end. As the eldest, Lee “had to quit [school to work after their father died because their family] needed the money.” Owen, however, left school willingly to work even though he was “doing all right....[and getting] good marks.” Furthermore, Lee is responsible and level-headed whereas Owen is indulgent and rash. While the brothers’ interactions with the two sisters initially highlight these divergent character traits, they eventually allow each brother an opportunity to step outside their usual selves. Though Lee is married and Owen is engaged, they end up taking Mary and Loretta out to a local dance—something that Owen acknowledges as a date, whereas Lee maintains “it’s more like a car pool ... [with he and Mary] chaperoning Owen and Loretta.” At Mary’s suggestion, however, Lee momentarily considers what it would be like to shed his responsibilities and “do what [he] wants to do.” Furthermore, Mary helps Lee come to terms with his brother’s apparent avoidance of Lee’s situation and she explains to him that “he just wants things to be the way they used to be.” At the same time, Lee helps Mary to understand that she needs to move on after being abandoned by her husband two years prior. Owen’s relationship with Loretta, however, is only serious for a moment. After rashly asking Loretta to marry him, Owen is made aware of the fact that such a marriage would harm Loretta’s “career” in television—her brief appearances in used car commercials—not to mention his own engagement.

While the brothers’ reactions may at first seem unusually rash and incoherent, they are what is required for them to be jolted out of their relative ignorance of each other’s situation. The two-act structure of the play frames this turn in their relationship, though throughout the play Foster spins comic turns on the sharp contrasts that exist between the serious siblings (Mary and Lee) and the more foolish ones (Owen and Loretta). While the unplanned visit from Loretta and Mary eventually allows the brothers come to terms with the reality at hand, the fact that this awakening is so sudden and so serious—occurring in the last few pages of the play—seems slightly at odds with the rest of the play. Nevertheless, The Melville Boys traces an important transformation in family dynamics and, in doing so, the play demonstrates the responsibilities that are inherent in familial and friendly relationships and how they can be both comic and tragic at the same time.