He sought beauty in the most unexpected of places. Through his gregarious, muscular, irreverent poetry he illuminated the forgotten corners of our country and gave voice to those rough around the edges. He revolutionized Canadian poetry and culture by rejecting colonial literary values and subverting the notion that poetry must be difficult, intellectual and highbrow. The lands and people of Prince Edward County are engraved in his poetry; and his spirit permeates the landscape in return. Like Purdy, County Stage draws profound inspiration from the rugged, rural beauty that surrounds us in The County, this inspiration has led us to create The Shape of Home: Songs in Search of Al Purdy, an original theatrical song-cycle inspired by “Canada’s Unofficial Poet Laureate”.

The creation of Home began through a deeply collaborative process both musically and dramaturgically. Artistic Director, Graham Abbey and Associate Artistic Director Dylan Trowbridge commissioned award-winning theatre artist Hailey Gillis to undertake an exploratory curation of poems, letters and musings written by Purdy as a template for a musical exploration of his works.

Using Purdy’s collection Beyond Remembering, Gillis extracted his most potent and provocative work, focusing on his obsession with ‘where we are’ and ‘what it is to be alive’. Gillis then sought out some of Canada’s most innovative theatre creators and songwriters to crack open the template, shape the narrative and bring the poetry to musical life. This team includes renowned theatre artists Beau Dixon, Raha Javanfar and Andrew Penner, dramaturg Marni Jackson (co-writer of the acclaimed documentary, Al Purdy was Here) and director/performer Frank Cox-O’Connell. Working remotely through the pandemic, the team infused each poem into an original composition, prompted by Purdy’s question “what the hell do we do with this brief little life of ours?” 

With Purdy’s robust poetry as the lyrical foundation, and Al and Eurithe’s complex devotion to one another as the emotional core, the ensemble wrote and recorded a first draft of Home, featuring over 20 original songs probing themes of mortality, nature, artistic perseverance and profound love.