Perfect Pie

Stellar Quines in Association with The Byre Theatre of St Andrews and Perth Theatre.

‘I will not forget you, you are carved in the palm of my hand.’
Perfect Pie by Judith Thompson
Directed by Maureen Beattie

One of Scotland’s foremost actresses Maureen Beattie directs for Stellar Quines Perfect Pie, a touching play by Canadian playwright Judith Thompson. Perfect Pie is a story about the reunion of two long-estranged women who shared a deep friendship and deep wounding in their youth. It's also about how people grow and change when they choose to stay close to their roots or leave to experience the wider world.

In the course of an afternoon’s reunion between two long-estranged friends, a buried memory and two teenagers’ wild secret slams into the present. A potent drama.

Perfect Pie premiered at the Tarragon Theatre in Toronto in 2000.

‘… Judith Thompson’s excellent and thought provoking writing this makes for a truly memorable theatrical event.’ Bryan Johnston for scottishtheatre.web on My Pyramids (Fringe 2005)

‘Thompson is a fearless writer who has tackled difficult and taboo subjects in the past’ Lynn Gardner from The Guardian Guide on My Pyramids (Fringe 2005)

Perfect Pie was publicly read at the Old Vic, London, the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford and at the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh as part of Rehearsal Room 7.

Maureen Beattie about choosing Perfect Pie as a director: ‘Over the past few years, I’ve found myself increasingly drawn to the idea of directing, and have been looking out for a play which I felt I had a real understanding of and a deep emotional connection with, and one in which I felt I could, as a director, realise the truth of the play and enable the actors to be at the very best in their roles.’ A couple of years ago a friend of mine came back from working in Canada full of delight about a production of a play called Perfect Pie by Judith Thompson which he said was one of the best nights he had ever spent in the theatre. I read Perfect Pie and realised that it was just what I was looking for.

“Meeting Judith while I was performing in Toronto confirmed everything I thought and felt about this glorious play. I identify with the characters in Perfect Pie: two women who I can recognise as my contemporaries, looking back over their lives and trying to understand how the choices they’ve made have led them to the place they are now. I feel I understand that.”

Judith Thompson explains: ‘It's a story that women - especially middle-aged women - can connect with, whether they've walked a distance from the past or stayed. It's when you meet with a person you've grown up with and bonded with in a sense, yet you are completely different people.

Perfect Pie will be Maureen Beattie’s second time working as a director, after her directorial debut in the Borderline Theatre, Perth Theatre and Byre Theatre production of Good Things by Liz Lochhead which successfully toured Scotland in autumn 2004.



With the support of Foreign Affairs Canada / avec l’appui d’Affaires étrangères Canada