I Had a Job I Liked Once

David E. Kemp is head of the Drama Department at Queen’s University.

Vanderhaeghe is best known as an accomplished novelist and short-story
writer (his novel, Man Descending, won the Governor General’s Literary
Award for fiction in 1982); this compelling and provocative play
suggests that he is a talented dramatist as well. I Had a Job I Liked.
Once is set in a police station, with the action centring on the
interrogation of a young man accused of a crime involving a beautiful
and wealthy teenage girl. The events leading up to the incident unfold
in flashbacks as the boy tells his story to the interrogating officer, a
by-the-book sergeant. The play is concerned with the struggle that
arises when one’s notion of justice conflicts with the law.

I found this play to be both doubtful and stimulating. To his credit,
Vanderhaeghe does not impose his own ideas on the audience but instead
allows his well-rounded characters to have their say before leaving the
audience to draw their own conclusions with respect to the justice or
injustice of the situation.

Given the quality of writing to be found in Vanderhaeghe’s novels, it
is not surprising that the language in this play is so beautifully
textured, rich, and vivid. What is perhaps more surprising is that the
author displays such a sophisticated grasp of character, as well as of
dramatic style and structure, in his first foray into writing for the
theatre.