National Network for Equitable Library Service

Inspired by a quote from the I Ching about how we respond to tragedy - "Some weep, some blow upon flutes" - Mary Vingoe's play is the story of Costas, an elderly Greek shoe repairman whose wife Elena suffers from dementia and whose marriage has been eroded by a family secret. Costas is in denial of his wife's illness, but Lia, their teenage granddaughter who cares for her grandmother, is not. Costas' life is altered when Sandra, a professional organizer who cannot begin to organize her own life, enters his shop. An unlikely, at times humorous friendship develops between the two - until we discover that Sandra's estranged daughter Marijke is fourteen and pregnant. A chance meeting between Elena and Marijke leads to an unravelling of past lives and buried grievances which play out with unexpected results. Some Blow Flutes brings the issue of dementia into the open and explores the possibility of compassion and redemption in the face of overwhelming odds.