Four New Comedies

David E. Kemp is a drama professor at Queen’s University and the
author of The Pleasures and Treasures of the United Kingdom.

Although the plays contained in this new volume from Playwrights Canada can hardly be called seminal examples of modern Canadian playwrighting, they nevertheless represent four populist comic dramas which are unique, individual, and at times very funny. Each play manages to look at a specific aspect of life and give us some new thoughts and truths about it. In some ways this is all we can ask of theatre, and very often the most significant statements pertaining to our existence are communicated through the craft of the farceur; and yet among many “intellectuals” and taste makers, comedy is considered second-rate. In his lively introduction to these plays Richard Ouzounian of the Neptune Theatre points to Woody Allen’s statement that “Society crowns its tragedians with laurel wreaths; the comedians get brussels sprouts,” and in many ways Allen is right.

Putting aside, however, the relative ability of comedy to explore the nature of existence, there is no question that all of these plays are finely crafted and rooted in truth. They are especially strong in their pertinent observation of the human condition. The Late Blumer by John Lazarus is a serious look at the cult of nostalgia. It calls into question the ephemeral quality of some of our strongest beliefs and makes the point that to move forward does not necessarily mean that one goes anywhere. Set in Vancouver, the play avoids insularity and allows the author to say things which transcend the particular. This, at least, is one aspect of the craft of the playwright likely to assure the play’s durability. Other plays by Lazarus include Babel Rap, Dreaming and Duelling, and most recently, Genuine Fakes.

In Would You Like a Cup of Tea Warren Graves has taken that most neglected and difficult of formats, the one-act play, and produced an example of comic writing notable for its economy and construction. There is nothing redundant in the writing, the situation, or the character development, and the play is also very funny. Graves has also written The Hand that Cradles the Rock, The Mumberley Inheritance, and The Last Summer among many other successful dramas.

Colleen Curran’s comedy, Cake-Walk, was first produced at the Blyth Summer Festival and it is easy to understand why the play was so successful with a predominantly rural “non-theatre” audience. Cake-Walk is a play about a cake-baking competition and it is full of ordinary, believable characters who are funny, vulnerable, and endearing. Curran has had many successful productions including Amelia Earhart was not a Spy, Another Labor Day, and Moose County.

In many ways the most significant play in this collection is Suzanne Finlay’s Monkeyshines. Finlay explores the relationship between a man and a woman and what time has done (or will do) to it. Beneath the surface of Monkeyshines there are significant statements which deal with the question of aging. These profundities are presented with a lightness of touch and sensitivity which is the hallmark of excellence, and Finlay’s play is as moving as it is funny. One hopes that Playwrights Canada will soon publish her magnificent play Gone to Glory.

The four plays in this volume not only represent four different authors but also four different styles and four dramatically different views of the world. They also provide us with that wonderful insight into ourselves and our world which is the especial realm of the comic playwright.