The story begins in medias res, in a seaside town on Cornwall’s coast, as a group of Medieval Shipmen ease their cares by getting drunk in preparation to hear the story of The Ephemeris—a journal kept by a young sea captain named Justin Rhodes. He is a confessed drunkard who aspires to be a bard, and he further confesses to a certain degree of cowardice when it comes to committing himself to his true-love, Jane in a world so fraught with dying and misrule. Initially, he takes us back to the ruined port town of Solway where the story picks up with a man named Redwyn who is Justin’s friend and spiritual and philosophical mentor throughout the tale.
It is then largely the bantering back and forth of the characters, their emotional states and the conflicts they express that control a series of flashback episodes exploring the world the friends are at odds with, while searching for the reconciliation that they crave. Because they are merchant seamen, the stories are largely nautical in nature, comprising a Homeric style Odyssey as Justin and his crew sail from port to port, discovering a world newly ravaged by an unparalleled epidemic of Black Death, famine and misrule. Unable to land in any familiar ports and stranded at sea, they are forced to take risks and sail into an uncharted territory.
But nothing is ever as it seems, and the plot twists and turns bring us always back to Cornwall for the commentary and observations of Justin’s inebriated friends.
There are several episodes of Plague, Love, and also War where Justin’s courage is tested in the face of Bloody battle and a Horrifying foe. There are several Comedic turns and episodes, as well, and the conclusion of the story is full of surprises, always keeping the audience off-guard as to what the next turn of fate or philosophical or intellectual inflection might be.
We hope, and our early audiences agree, The Ephemeris in DwREAM is a highly entertaining, an intellectually stimulating, literary and musical experience.
