Belle Moral

In Belle Moral: A Natural History, we are steeped in a world on the cusp between magic and art, and science and madness.

Set in 1899 just outside Edinburgh, the play unfolds in the venerable estate known as Belle Moral, home to Pearl MacIsaac, an avid amateur paleontologist and proud “new woman”; her maiden Aunt Flora, a sweetly maternal figure who nonetheless keeps an iron-grip on her set of keys; and a staff of quirky household retainers who seem to know more than they are willing say. As Pearl steels herself for the reading of her late father’s will and the inevitable arrival of her wayward younger brother, Victor, she also does her best to dismiss the sinister signs that her home may house another occupant…one whose existence her aunt and the good Doctor Reid seem determined to keep secret.

"The most significant aspect of Belle Moral is the profound contribution of women to society, even if their place is constantly circumscribed and compromised." —Canadian Literature"An extremely intelligent and erudite play . . . that mixes the comic and gothic stylistically, with the scientific and political thematically." —The Globe and Mail

"Bright and satiric. . . . Few other writers are so good at telling a story while arguing an intellectual point." —NOW (Toronto)

"The most significant aspect of Belle Moral is the profound contribution of women to society, even if their place is constantly circumscribed and compromised." —Canadian Literature

ANN-MARIE MACDONALD is a best-selling novelist, playwright, actor, and television presenter based in Montreal and Toronto. Her work in all capacities has been honoured with multiple awards. Her plays are produced and published internationally. She is author of Fall on Your Knees, The Way the Crow Flies, and Adult Onset. Her work has been translated into nineteen languages. In 2019, Ann-Marie was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in recognition of her contribution to the arts and her LGBTQ2SI+ activism. Her play, Hamlet-911, premiered at The Stratford Festival.