The Chalk Garden is a stately household drama set on the cliffs of the English south coast. It tells the story of Mrs. St Maugham and her granddaughter Laurel, a disturbed child under Miss Madrigal's care. Laurel's behavior frightens away a succession of governesses until an enigmatic one is hired in spite of her mysterious references. Murky pasts and intrigue abound; Two other visitors bring their own revelations and problems. There is the child's mother who is re-married, re-located, estranged from her own mother and between whom tensions run high; and an old gentleman friend of the lady of the house, the judge.

Over all this sits the unseen presence of Pinkbell, the former butler from the grand house in London. Though dying in a bed upstairs he is still attempting to run the life of the whole house and its occupants and cultivate the garden. His nurse completes the picture and we have a wistful yet witty story of a chaotic household surrounded by failing relationships and an unforgiving garden.

This play also marks a homecoming for Gerda Brown, the Grand Dame of Eugene theatre. At seventy-seven, Gerda can claim a full and active life in local theatre, and was the Very Little Theatre's first president. The VLT may never have survived to this day had it not been for Gerda and fellow charter members who struggled to form a theatre company in the face of adversity and bad situations.

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