When the Rain Stops Falling

Play

Writers: Andrew Bovell

Overview

Show Information

Category
Play
Number of Acts
1
First Produced
2008
Genres
Drama
Settings
Contemporary
Time & Place
London and Australia, 1959-2039
Cast Size
medium
Licensor
Ideal for
College/University, Community Theatre, Ensemble Cast, Professional Theatre, Regional Theatre
Casting Notes
Mostly male cast
Includes adult, young adult characters

Synopsis

Andrew Bovell’s sprawling family drama, When the Rain Stops Falling, spans four generations of dysfunction in one family’s lineage of secrets, abandonment, and searching for answers. In 1960’s London, Henry and Elizabeth Law give birth to a son, Gabriel, before Henry mysteriously departs for Australia, never to return to his family again. Two decades later, Gabriel travels to Australia, following in his father’s footsteps, desperate to find some connection to the man he never knew. There, he meets and falls in love with Gabrielle York, who gives birth to their son, Gabriel York. But just like his father, Gabriel grows up abandoned by his parents and later does the same to his own son. In the near future, as the end of the world looms, Gabriel is confronted by his own son, searching for answers of his own just as his father and grandfather did before him. When the Rain Stops Falling is an epic work of drama, traveling backwards and forwards through time as each generation struggles to come to terms with family, legacy, abandonment and betrayal, inherited secrets, and the search for connection and forgiveness.

Lead Characters


When the Rain Stops Falling guide sections